South Africa's President Cyril Ramaphosa said an address to the nation on Sunday the country had largely passed its peak of infections attributed to the third wave of Covid-19 that has been raging in the country since last May.
As a result, restrictions will be eased. The ban on alcohol sale has been lifted, non-essential establishments like restaurants are set to reopen and inter-provincial travel for leisure will resume. Schools have fully reopened, and social and religious gatherings are again allowed for a maximum of 50 people indoors and 100 people outdoors.
The night-time curfew has been reduced to 10pm to 4am. Nevertheless he warned that people should continue to make efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
"The coronavirus pandemic is the greatest threat to the lives and health of our people, as well as to the recovery and transformation of our economy. Accordingly, we need to continue to do everything in our means to contain the spread of the virus," Cyril Ramaphosa, President of South Africa.
"The latest figures suggest that we have largely passed the peak of the third wave of infections," he added.
This easing of restrictions comes after the average daily number of new confirmed cases over the last week was found to be around 12,000, a 20% drop from the previous week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa also added that plans to start manufacturing vaccines in Africa, and for Africa, were gathering pace. The Aspen Pharmacare drugs company to start producing doses for the continent by Autumn.
"Aspen, which is based in Gqeberha, will from October be manufacturing vaccine solely for the African continent, our own country and the African continent. A few weeks ago, the World Health Organization chose South Africa as a hub for the manufacture of vaccines going forward. A few days ago, Biovac Institute in Cape Town was appointed to manufacture the Pfizer by BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for distribution within our continent," the South African President detailed in his address.