Health Minister Phaahla: No more masks or restrictions on gatherings
Health Minister Joe Phaahla has ended the mandatory use of masks indoors as well as removed restrictions on gatherings.
Phaahla signed a repeal on Wednesday with one other change – checks at South Africa’s borders.
Regulation 16A refers to “wearing of face masks to contain the spread of COVID-19”. Up until Wednesday, people were required to use a face mask in any public indoor space or when using public transport. Regulation 16B refers to the “regulation of gatherings to contain the spread of COVID-19”.
Limits were put on gatherings of no more than 100 people and up to 50% of a venue’s maximum capacity if everyone was vaccinated. If vaccination statuses were unknown, a maximum of 1,000 people indoors and 2,000 outdoors was permitted. “Regulation of persons entering the country to contain the spread of COVID-19” refers to 16C, which required negative PCR tests, vaccination certificates or proof of recovery from COVID-19 from travellers older than 12 years old.
On Thursday morning, Phaahla is due to join Minister in the Presidency Mondli Gungubele for a briefing.
On Tuesday, a leaked memo that couldn’t be verified led to an expectation that the government would be relooking at its stance on wearing masks.
-EWN
In other news – Unathi Nkayi’s post leaves social media fuming
South African media personality, Unathi Nkayi was forced to delete an insensitive post where she was rubbing shoulders with the Queen Mother of Eswatini. Her trip to Swaziland saw her gaining the opportunity to meet and pose next to her. But she had to remove the post after seeing how hurt the majority of her followers were.
In the post, Unathi was seen kneeling down next to the Queen mother and even accompanied the picture with a short caption. Learn More
