JOHANNESBURG (AP) – South African President Cyril Ramaphosa imposed a ban on the sale of alcohol and ordered all bars to be closed on Monday as part of new restrictions to help the country fight the resurgence of the coronavirus, including a new one. variant.
Ramaphosa also announced the closure of all public beaches and swimming pools in the country’s pockets of infection, which include Cape Town, Johannesburg, Durban and several coastal areas. In addition, South Africa is extending its night curfew by four hours, requiring all residents to be home from 9 pm to 6 am, the president said.
“Reckless behavior due to alcohol intoxication contributed to increased transmission. Alcohol-related accidents and violence are putting pressure on our hospital’s emergency units, ”said Ramaphosa in a national speech.
“As we had to do in the early days of the blockade, we now have to flatten the curve to protect our health system’s ability to allow it to respond effectively to this new wave of infections,” he said.
Ramaphosa said the ban on alcohol sales and other new restrictions would go into effect at midnight. They include wearing masks in public, and anyone found without wearing a mask in a public place will be subject to a fine or criminal charge punishable by a possible prison sentence, the president said.
Ramaphosa said the tightening of restrictions is necessary because of an increase in COVID-19 infections, which has pushed the total confirmed cases of viruses in South Africa beyond 1 million.
“It is known that about 27,000 South Africans died of COVID-19. The number of new coronavirus infections is rising at an unprecedented rate, ”he said. “More than 50,000 new cases have been reported since Christmas Eve.”
Ramaphosa announced the new measures after a cabinet meeting and an emergency meeting of the Coronavirus National Command Council. He said the new restrictions will be reviewed in a few weeks and a relaxation will only be considered when the number of new cases and hospitalizations decreases.
The country surpassed the 1 million confirmed virus cases on Sunday night, when authorities reported that the country’s total cases during the pandemic reached 1,004,413, including 26,735 deaths.
Like Britain, South Africa is battling a variant of COVID-19 that medical experts consider more infectious than the original. The variant has become dominant in many parts of the country, according to experts.
The South African Medical Association, which represents nurses and other health professionals, as well as doctors, warned on Monday that the health system was about to be overburdened by the combination of more COVID-19 patients and people who they need urgent care due to alcohol. related incidents. Many vacation gatherings involve high levels of alcohol consumption, which in turn usually leads to an increase in trauma cases.
“To relieve pressure on the system at this time of year, when we only have skeletal employees working, mainly in the public sector, as well as in the private sector, we ask for stricter restrictions on social gatherings,” Angelique Coetzee, said the president of the medical association. to the Associated Press.
“South Africa has a history of high alcohol consumption and excessive alcohol consumption, especially on weekends. In certain areas, this leads to many cases of traumas, assaults, car accidents and domestic violence, ”she said.
The medical association asked the government to impose stricter restrictions on the sale of alcohol, especially when it comes to large meetings.
When South Africa previously had a total ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages, trauma cases in hospitals dropped by up to 60%, according to government statistics. When the ban on alcohol sales was lifted, trauma cases returned to previous levels.
Amid the resurgence of COVID-19 in early December, South Africa limited alcohol sales Monday through Thursday, from 10 am to 6 pm. The country also has a night curfew from 11 pm to 4 am.
Several alcohol merchants pleaded with the government to avoid a total ban on alcohol sales, citing the economic damage it would cause. South Africa’s alcohol industry was one of the hardest hit when the country imposed a severe block during April and May, which also banned all alcohol sales.
South Africa’s 7-day continuous average of confirmed daily cases increased in the last two weeks from 11.18 new cases per 100,000 people on December 13 to 19.87 new cases per 100,000 people on December 27.
The 7-day moving average of daily deaths in the country has increased in the last two weeks from 0.26 deaths per 100,000 people on December 13 to 0.49 deaths per 100,000 people on December 27.
Ramaphosa urged people to avoid meetings on New Year’s Eve. Instead, he asked all South Africans to light candles.
“I will light a candle in Cape Town at exactly midnight on New Year’s Eve in memory of those who lost their lives and in honor of those on the front lines working to save our lives and protect us from danger,” he said. “I ask that you join me wherever you are in this very important symbolic gesture.”