SA mulls Covid-19 vaccine ‘passport’, says Ramaphosa

PRESIDENT Cyril Ramaphosa has urged those who remain unvaccinated to get the jab, as he announced an easing of Covid restrictions last night.

The president said following consultation and scientific advice, the country would move to risk-adjusted level 2 from today.

The easing of restrictions means:

• Curfew is from 11pm to 4am.

• Non-essential establishments

like bars and fitness centres need to close by 10pm.

• All gatherings will now be limited to 250 people indoors and 500 outdoors.

• Where the venue is too small,

no more than 50% of the venue may be used.

• The sale of alcohol for off-site

consumption will be allowed from 10am to 6pm (Monday to Friday).

• On-site consumption is permitted at licensed establishments.

• Funerals remain restricted and night vigils remain banned.

Ramaphosa said the measures would be reviewed in two weeks’ time, along with the behaviour of the virus.

He said the peak of the third wave had yet to be reached in some parts of the country, although Covid-19 cases were on the decrease.

He warned that vigilance was still needed, as the threat of a fourth wave remained high for the December period.

The president also highlighted statistics collected in the Western Cape which showed that most of those hospitalised in the province were unvaccinated.

He pointed to these statistics, which were also observed in other parts of the country, as an urgent indication that people needed to be vaccinated. Scientific evidence showed a vaccinated person was less likely to need hospitalisation or suffer from a severe form of the virus, the president said.

Women were more likely to get vaccinated than men, the president said as he urged men to pick up the pace.

The country has so far administered 14.6 million vaccine doses.

He said more than 57% of people over the age of 60, who are more likely to suffer from severe forms of the disease, had been vaccinated.

There are 3 000 vaccination sites in the country both in the private and public sectors.

Ramaphosa said the government was also mulling the idea of vaccine passports and would soon outline its plans. These would allow people to show evidence of their vaccination status for work or travel purposes.