Cape Town – Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has warned that government can reintroduce the National State of Disaster if the fifth wave hits the country with a surge in numbers and hospitalisations.
President Cyril Ramaphosa lifted the National State of Disaster after 750 days on Monday.
During a televised address to the nation, Ramaphosa said: “We are hopeful that the worst is behind us, and we are confident that there are only better days ahead.
“Now is the time to grow our economy and create jobs… to get our country back on track.
“Now is the time to heal, to recover and to rebuild.”
ALSO READ | Cyril Ramaphosa lifts National State of Disaster after 750 days
Following Ramaphosa’s address, Dlamini-Zuma held a briefing with Health Minister Joe Phaahla and Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele.
“It really is in our hands but all we can say is that if the situation escalates to being a disaster, the Disaster Management Act will come back, classification will come back as a disaster, then the declaration of the national state of disaster will happen again, so it’s really in our hands. We will be watching and Health [Department] will be advising us,” EWN quoted Dlamini-Zuma as saying.
She also said that government would deal with the fifth wave when it arrived.
Scientists have warned that there could be a fifth wave of Covid-19 infections in early May but this would be dependent on the emergence of a new variant.
ALSO READ | ‘Now is the time to grow our economy’ – Cyril Ramaphosa as SA ends pandemic legal curbs
So far, over 100 000 covid-related deaths have been recorded, but researchers say the actual fatalities could be triple the reported figures., according to AFP.
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Picture: Twitter_NationalCoGTA
Compiled by Betha Madhomu
Additional reporting by AFP
