Cape Town – President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on Sunday evening on new measures to deal with the rising infections of Covid-19 in the country.
Ramaphosa’s family meeting will come after the meeting of the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (Natjoints).
In a statement on Saturday, government spokesperson Phumla Williams said the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) would convene again on Sunday to process the NatJoints report.
“This will be followed by the Presidential Coordinating Council, which includes premiers, executive mayors and representatives of traditional leadership,” Williams said.
A special Cabinet meeting will take place to process the recommendations from the NatJoints. The President will address the nation at 20:00 on Sunday, 27 June 2021.”
The announcement comes after Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane briefed the media on the new Delta variant and a surge in new infections.
Kubayi-Ngubane warned that the new delta variant is more transmissible and spreads faster.
Kubayi-Ngubane, who was briefing the media on Saturday, also called on the people of Gauteng to respect Covid-19 restrictions.
This comes as Covid-19 infections continued to rise.
Health experts Professor Tulio de Oliveira and Dr Richard Lessells also said the delta variant, which was first detected in India in October last year, was spreading faster.
“The delta variant, it is a variant that caused damage in India. It is dominating infections in South Africa,” De Oliveira.
He said the delta variant was now dominating infections in South Africa.
“It is highly transmissible, more than any other variant. When the transmissions are very fast, it will overwhelm our hospitals,” said De Oliveira.
Lessells reiterated that this variant spreads fast.
“In terms of transmissibility, how this variant spreads from person to person, this variant is more transmissible than any other variant. It is a highly transmissible variant,” said Lessells.
However, Lessells and De Oliveira said in a study that was conducted in the UK, it was found that both AstraZeneca and Pfizer were effective against the variant if a person took double doses.
But if a person takes one dose of these vaccines, it was not effective against the variant.