(Fighting New Coronary Pneumonia) South Africa extends the four-level "blockade order" time
China News Service, Johannesburg, July 12 (Reporter Wang Xi) South African President Ramaphosa announced in a national television speech on the evening of the 11th that the South African government has decided to extend the current four-level "blockade order" against the new crown pneumonia epidemic by two weeks. .
South Africa is currently at the peak of the third wave of new crown pneumonia epidemics, especially the rampant delta mutant strain has led to a high increase in confirmed cases and deaths in South Africa.
As of press time, South Africa has a total of 2,195,599 confirmed cases of new coronary pneumonia, 64,289 deaths, and a positive rate of 30.4%, making it one of the most severely affected countries in the world.
On June 27, in order to prevent the rapid spread of the epidemic, the South African government decided to raise the “blockade order” against the epidemic to the fourth level, which is only one step away from the highest level five.
On July 11, Ramaphosa stated in his speech that although stricter epidemic prevention measures have been taken, the infection rate in South Africa remains high, and the third wave of epidemic peaks is more serious than the previous two waves.
In addition to Gauteng, the hardest hit by the epidemic, the epidemic situation in other provinces including Western Cape, KwaZulu Natal, Limpopo, Northwestern Province and other provinces has also deteriorated, and the medical systems in South Africa are facing greater pressure.
Under this circumstance, the South African government decided to extend the current four-level "blockade order" to July 25.
Anti-epidemic measures remain basically unchanged during this period, including the ban on all social, political, and religious gatherings; curfews from 21:00 to 4:00 the next day; a total ban on the sale of alcohol products; all campuses of South African universities, schools and primary schools will be closed until July 26 .
A slight difference from the previous two-fourth-level "blockade order" is that the South African government allows all catering establishments to open for dine-in food this time, but the epidemic prevention work must be strictly done, and the number of diners must not exceed 50; gymnasiums, livestock auctions Other places are also allowed to reopen, but they must be operated under the epidemic prevention regulations of the South African government.
Ramaphosa revealed that so far, more than 4.2 million people in South Africa have been vaccinated against the new crown pneumonia, and the progress of vaccination continues to accelerate.
South Africa welcomes the imminent use of vaccines from China, and is also studying the introduction of new crown pneumonia vaccines from Russia to ensure that enough vaccines are available to complete the vaccination task.
(Finish)