A Covid-19 recovery rate that is moving close to 80%; reduced hospital admissions; a lower infection rate; and the need to resuscitate a struggling economy are some of the main reasons that President Cyril Ramaphosa announced sweeping changes last night
“Remember, the alcohol industry was not fighting for full-blown opening and did not have a problem with restrictions. They only had problems with a complete ban,” said a source.
Covid-19 looting was a hot debate in Cabinet and in the national command council. President Cyril Ramaphosa wants “major milestones” soon, including from the collaboration work already being done by law enforcement agencies. “The outcry is that officials get arrested, but the politicians or their associates or relatives are let off the hook and often they are the people behind the looting.”
They bemoaned the supplementary budget presented by Finance Minister Tito Mboweni last month, saying it further compounded the country’s challenges. They argued that by cutting R1.7 billion from the department of trade, industry and competition’s industrial financing and related programmes, the budget “threatens thousands of badly needed manufacturing jobs”.
These are some questions that have been circulating as Health Minister Zweli Mkhize noted this week that the country’s daily infection cases were in the region of just over 3 000, down from more than 13 000 recently. “It may well be that we haven’t reached the peak yet, probably because we’re not testing everyone or not testing to the extent we need to test to get a good sense of what the epidemic is looking like,” he said.“It used to be just under 25%, and now it is around 17%. So for us to get good sense of what the epidemic is looking like, it’s recommended to get a positivity rate of between 5% and 10%, so that’s one clue.
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