South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced Monday the end of the country’s state of disaster brought on by the coronavirus pandemic.<\/P>
That means that many restrictions on daily life and business that have been in place for 750 days have officially been removed.<\/P>
But some measures remain.<\/P>
Ramaphosa introduced a 30-day transition period that would uphold an indoor mask mandate and requirements to show vaccine certificates or PCR test results to attend large public gatherings.<\/P>
In addition, international travelers will have to be fully vaccinated or present a negative COVID-19 test result.<\/P>
A social grant to those who lost their jobs during the pandemic will extend through the transition period, after which all measures will lapse.<\/P>
The repeal of the state of disaster comes roughly five months after the last major variant, omicron, was discovered by the country’s scientists.<\/P>
Ramaphosa said while case numbers are high, hospitalizations and deaths remain low. South Africa is the hardest-hit country in Africa with over 6 million COVID-19 deaths.<\/P>
With less than half of the adult population vaccinated, Ramaphosa encouraged the public to get their shots.<\/P>
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Source: Voice of America<\/P>
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