South Africa lifts curfew as it says Covid's fourth wave has passed the peak

January 4, 2022: -On Thursday, South Africa lifted midnight to 4 a.m. curfew on movement with immediate effect as it is known that the country has passed the peak of its fourth Covid-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant, a cabinet statement said.

South Africa, which is at the lesser of its five-stage Covid-19 alert levels, made the changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic, levels of vaccination in the country, and available capacity in the health sector.

Besides lifting the restrictions on public movement, the government said gatherings would be restricted to over 1,000 people indoors and not over 2,000 people outdoors.

It has ruled that alcohol shops with licenses to operate beyond 11 p.m. (2100GMT) may revert to full license conditions, a welcome boon for traders and businesses hard reached by the pandemic and looking to recover in the festive season.

“While the Omicron variant is very much transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalization than in the last waves. This means that the country has a spare capacity for admission of patients even for routine health services,” the cabinet said.