Cape Town – South African businesses have reportedly called on President Cyril Ramaphosa not to impose stricter lockdown restrictions ahead of the festive season, saying this would be detrimental to the economy that is already on its knees.
Many businesses are still struggling to recover from previous lockdown restrictions.
“I think the president must say if you are not vaccinated, you must quarantine, you can’t go to the restaurant, you can’t go to the matches to watch your favourite sport, you can’t go to school and by the way, as an employee, you must work from home and you must have a PCR test every 24 hours at your cost,” EWN quoted Business Unity South Africa’s Bonang Mohale as saying.
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This comes as scientists in South Africa announced on Thursday that they had detected a new Covid-19 variant.
The country has in recent days experienced a surge in infections – recording 2 465 new infections in a 24-hour cycle on Thursday – nearly double the previous day’s tally.
Scientists blamed the spike in infections on the variant, which goes by the scientific label B.1.1.529.
The number of fatalities shot to 114 on Thursday from 22 the previous day, in Africa’s hardest-hit country.
Ramaphosa has moved South Africa to lockdown adjusted alert level 1 on October 1, which restricts public gatherings to 750 people indoors and 2 000 people outdoors.
Alcohol sales are also permitted as per normal but no alcohol is allowed to be sold after 23:00.
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Additional reporting by AFP
