Cape Town – The Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs has extended the National State of Disaster by a further month.
In a statement on Tuesday, Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma announced that the National State of Disaster would be extended until April 15.
This, she said, was designed to allow government and organs of state to have enough time to “continue augmenting the existing legislation and contingency arrangements” so as to implement measures that would further curb the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Disaster Management Act, 2002 (Act No 57 of 2002): Extension of a National State of Disaster #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/0zawptXIEs
— NationalCoGTA (@NationalCoGTA) March 15, 2022
According to News24, Dlamini-Zuma’s announcement came after a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Monday.
National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) members’ deliberations on alternative regulations were understood to have been inconclusive, the report said.
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Meanwhile, a report by EWN quoted infectious disease specialist professor Salim Abdool-Karim as saying that what was important was that safety protocols were being put in place to still protect people against the disease.
“It’s more important that we are able to ensure that the necessary public health measures can be put in place under other legislation. To me, it’s not a concern about whether there is a state of disaster or not, it’s more of can we do what is needed to deal with the pandemic.”
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Compiled by Betha Madhomu
