Premier pushes for relax of restrictions

PREMIER Alan Winde is pushing for a relaxation of Covid-19 restrictions as soon as possible.

On Wednesday, Winde also called for an end to the national state of disaster declared in reaction to the pandemic, calling it an “extreme tool” to combat the crisis.

“The Western Cape must be moved to alert level 1 (lower restrictions) as soon as possible, as it becomes clear that we are exiting the third wave (of Covid-19 infections),’’ Winde said. “This will provide support to our economy and get the balance right in saving both lives and jobs in our province.”

Currently, the whole of South Africa – which started off at alert level 5 at the onset of the country’s first hard lockdown to try and curb Covid-19 infections in March last year – is at level 2.

Winde said the government could not use the “extreme tool” of the national state of disaster forever, “if we are to create the jobs our country needs to recover”. – African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa