President Ramaphosa to address SA on Sunday evening

Today I attended the media briefing by the Acting Minister of Health, Mmamoloko Kubayi, who together with a panel of experts, provided an update on South Africa’s response to COVID-19 pandemic. The Delta variant is now dominant in SA. In response to my question, Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi confirmed that the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) had met today.

The Minister stated the following:

–      We remain very worried about the rise in the hospitalisations which is putting a lot of strain in the health facilities in Gauteng.
–      The trends are clearly showing that other provinces are going to experience the trend we are seeing in Gauteng, notably in the western and the Eastern Cape.
–      Nationally the numbers have surpassed the first wave peak and we are likely to surpass the second wave peak.
–      Previously we had communicated that the third wave peak is unlikely to surpass the second wave peak.
–      However, that was based on the assumption that South Africa does not get a new variant.
–      Unfortunately, this is no longer the case, our scientists, after their sequencing experiments have discovered that we have a new variant that is prevalent in our country. This new variant is called Delta.

Following the briefing, journalists received the following information: ,

The National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure (NATJOINTS) will convene this afternoon to propose recommendations on the country’s response to both the Delta variant and the continued surge in COVID-19 infections.

The NCCC will convene again tomorrow (27 June ) to process the NATJOINTS Report. This will be followed by, the Presidential Coordinating Council (PCC) which includes premiers, executive mayors and representatives of traditional leaderships. A special Cabinet meeting will take place to process the recommendations from the NATJOINTS. 

The President will address the nation at 20h00 on Sunday, 27 June 2021.