In South Africa introduced a ban on the sale of alcohol after only six weeks after the sale of liquor again became legal. “As we move towards the peak of infections, it is important that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals injuries associated with alcohol,” – said in a televised address, the President of South Africa Cyril of Ramaphosa, quoted by the Guardian.
According to him, the current “storm coronavirus” was “much more cruel and destructive than any previously known”. The South African authorities also recovered a curfew at night, to reduce the number of road accidents and ordered all the inhabitants to wear protective masks in public places. A nationwide curfew obliges people not to leave the house from 21:00 until 04:00 a.m. on Monday.
According to Ramaphosa in South Africa was 4,079 deaths from COVID-19, 25 percent of which occurred last week. “Despite the fact that the expected influx of infections, the force and speed with which it progressed, understandably, caused great concern,” said Ramaphosa, adding that since then, in June was re-introduced alcohol sales in hospitals has been a dramatic increase in hospitalization of patients in accident and emergency departments.
South Africa has introduced some of the strictest restrictions in the world in April and may, including the closure of almost all mines, factories and enterprises, as well as a ban on the sale of alcoholic beverages and cigarettes. These measures have slowed the spread of the coronavirus, but South Africa’s economy, already declining, fell sharply, the unemployment rate in the country has exceeded 30 percent.
Meanwhile, senior officials of the health sector South Africa warn about the impending shortage of hospital beds and ventilators. Experts say that the country will reach the peak of the pandemic COVID-19 in the period from late July to September. The rapid increase in the number of reported cases in South Africa has made her one of the world’s hotspots to spread COVID-19. According to the Johns Hopkins University, South Africa is considered to be the ninth country that is most affected by this disease.
South Africa accounts For 40 percent of all confirmed diseases in Africa – 276 thousand 242 cases. In recent days, the number of novel coronavirus infections in South Africa has exceeded 12 thousand per day, making it fourth in the number of new cases in the world after the United States, Brazil and India.
