South Africa enters level 3 of COVID-19 restrictions: What is in it for agrifood?
South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation on 25 July 2021 on the latest decisions about COVID-19 restrictions. The follows observations that the third waves which hit the country over the past two months has now passed its peak. From more than 20 000 recorded per day at the beginning of July, the current average recorded per day is about 12 000 cases. This has resulted in the decision by the government to move from adjusted level 4 to adjusted level 3 of the restrictions.
New regulations that stand in favor of the agri and food sectors include:
- Inter-provincial travel for leisure and other purposes will now be allowed. At level 4, travel from Gauteng province to other provinces was not allowed, as Gauteng was an epicenter during the third wave of the pandemic.
- Restaurants will be open for sit-in customers and on-site alcohol consumption will be allowed as per license conditions.
- Curfew hours will be between 10pm and 4am. This essentially means that restaurants and other entertainment centres should close business by 9pm to allow workers time to travel back home.
The roll out of the country’s vaccine programme is slowly gaining a stable momentum. About 6.3million people (6% of total population) have now been vaccinated. By September 2021, young people between 18 and 35 years old will be included in the programme. The programme will further be aided by local production of vaccines – a number of pharmaceutical companies have been approved to produce vaccines locally.
Please see below the updated information for Alert Level 3
