AS THE country began life in lockdown level 1 yesterday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize warned South Africans to stay aware.
In a message to the country, Mkhize said level 1 did not mean the virus had been defeated.
The minister said the country was not out of the woods yet and a second spike in infections was likely if people did not follow regulations such as wearing masks, sanitising and social distancing.
Mkhize warned that 10 000 new cases were being recorded each week and the actual numbers could be higher.
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“Level 1 simply means we are moving to a new way of doing things, a new normal. We are on our way towards normality, except it will be very different.
“The use of masks, sanitising and social distancing are still going to be part of our lives because we haven’t got out of this problem yet,” he said.
Mkhize said the country had recorded more than 660 000 coronavirus cases of which 590 000 had recovered. More than 15 000 people have died from the virus.
“Level 1 is not to say the game is over. Level 1 is to say let’s try and rebuild the economy. Let’s try to rebuild our social, religious and traditional way of life and bring us to normality, but the normality is a new normal,” he emphasised.
Last week, President Cyril Ramaphosa downgraded the country to alert level 1 after consultations with the National Coronavirus Command Council.
In his last address to the nation, the president said the focus would shift to contact tracing and testing all patients at hospitals for the virus.
