Covid-19: South Africa lifts curfew as the country passes fourth wave peak

South Africa has lifted a midnight to 4am curfew on people’s movement with immediate effect, believing the country has passed the peak of its fourth Covid-19 wave driven by the Omicron variant, a government statement said on Thursday.

The country made the changes based on the trajectory of the pandemic, levels of vaccination in the country and available capacity in the health sector, according to a press release issued by Mondli Gungubele, a minister in the presidency.

South Africa is currently at the lowest of its five-stage Covid-19 alert levels.

“All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level,” a statement from the special cabinet meeting held earlier on Thursday said.

Data from the Department of Health showed a 29.7 per cent decrease in the number of new cases detected in the week ending December 25 compared to the number of cases found in the previous week, at 127,753, the government said.

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“While the Omicron variant is highly transmissible, there has been lower rates of hospitalisation than in previous waves,” cabinet said, adding that the wearing of masks in public places remained mandatory. Failure to wear a mask in South Africa when required remains a criminal offence.