The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s announcement of the further easing of COVD-19 restrictions.<\/p>\n
Chairperson of the SAMA, Dr Angelique Coetzee, also echoed the President\u2019s sentiments that everything must be done to prevent a resurgence of infections.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe easing of restrictions is good news for the economy and we share the President\u2019s view that the country is shifting from relief to recovery.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs medical professionals we also want to reiterate the president\u2019s message that the Coronavirus pandemic is not yet over, and that measures to prevent the spread of the disease must still be strictly adhered to,\u201d said Dr Coetzee.<\/p>\n
The association\u2019s comments follow on President Cyril Rampahosa\u2019s address to the nation on Wednesday night.<\/p>\n
In the address on the country\u2019s COVID-19 status, the President announced the amendment of alert level 1 regulations to restore the normal trading hours for the sale of alcohol at retail outlets.<\/p>\n
Dr Coetzee said it is vital that citizens understand that attending gatherings or visiting places such as shebeens and taverns where people do not wear masks carries a risk and should be avoided.<\/p>\n
She said the concession to allow for normal liquor sales is a good move and may ease the need for people to visit these outlets, specifically at weekends.<\/p>\n
Dr Coetzee said that while the spread of the virus has declined over the past two months, this should not be seen as an eradication of the virus from society.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur numbers may look good and this is a promising development, but we must remain alert and continue to wear masks over our noses and mouths, practice regular hand washing and sanitising, and continue with physical distancing.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe cannot allow ourselves to be fooled into thinking everything has been dealt with and that we can go on as before March 26,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
SAMA is of the view that South Africa is now better prepared to deal with the outbreak than before.<\/p>\n
It said the easing of international travel restrictions can be managed successfully by utilising rapid tests at points of entry to the country and that, essentially, this too is a good move particularly as it will provide a much-needed financial shot in the arm for the local tourism sector.<\/p>\n
\u201cUltimately the easing of the restrictions will benefit our economy and people negatively affected by the pandemic.<\/p>\n
\u201cGiven that we have made significant progress from a medical point of view in dealing with infections we support the easing of the restrictions as we believe there is more to gain from doing this than from keeping them in place,\u201d Dr Coetzee said.<\/p>\n
This as the President also announced the relaxation of travel restrictions in line with rapid testing and strict monitoring intended to limit the spread of the infection through importation by those who will be travelling to South Africa. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The South African Medical Association (SAMA) has welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa\u2019s announcement of the further easing of COVD-19 restrictions. Chairperson of the SAMA, Dr Angelique Coetzee, also echoed the President\u2019s sentiments that everything must be done to prevent a resurgence of infections. \u201cThe easing of restrictions is good news for the economy and we share […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-171827","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171827","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=171827"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/171827\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=171827"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=171827"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=171827"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}