Coronavirus in South Africa: relaxation of containment raises concerns

Text by: RFI Follow

Funny May Day celebration in South Africa. The country experienced the beginning of its deconfinement in joy. However, at the same time, 301 new cases were detected, bringing the total number of infections to 5,951 and 116 deaths.

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The pace of new Covid-19 cases is accelerating, but the government has no choice but to relax the rules of containment in place, considered by some to be the strictest in the world, with a ban forced by example. The only problem is that this gradual departure from confinement has been celebrated too much for the taste of the government, which fears a rapid increase in infections.

Hundreds of cyclists, thousands of joggers and walkers, often without masks and without respecting safety distances have thus left. These scenes have shocked the country since Friday. They take place mainly in coastal cities, Cape Town, Port Elizabeth or Durban but are controversial everywhere on social networks.

Indeed, South Africans have benefited from the relaxation of containment. The country has gone from level 5 (the maximum level) where all outings were prohibited, to level 4 where sports are allowed in the morning and where some shops can reopen.

This ecstasy is not to the liking of the Minister of Police, the uncompromising Bheki Cele, defender of very strict rules. Once again, his voice thundered on national television where he was indignant at the " irresponsible  " behavior  of his fellow citizens. "  It will be very easy to return to level 5 of containment,  " he threatens.

In reality, the whole government is panicking. He finds himself between the hammer and the anvil. Either it continues to gradually deconfine and risks an explosion in the number of infections, or it re-establishes strict rules and risks anger of the inhabitants as well as a collapse already close to the economy.

These strict rules have in any case a merit, assures the Minister of Health, they will have allowed to postpone the peak of the pandemic to July, even September, according to certain projections.

► Also read: Containment in South Africa: home brewing is on the rise

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• South Africa
• Coronavirus