First of all, we wish you & your families a happy New Year! May you have a truly remarkable and blissful year ahead.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet has approved new adjusted level 1 lockdown rules for South Africa. In a statement last week, the presidency said that this will include the lifting of the country’s evening curfew which has been in place since March 2020.

Based on the trajectory of the pandemic, the levels of vaccination in the country and the available capacity within the health sector, Cabinet has decided to make the following changes to the lockdown restrictions with immediate effect:

• The curfew will be lifted. There will therefore be no restrictions on the hours of movement of people.
• Gatherings are restricted to no more than 1,000 people indoors and no more than 2,000 people outdoors. Where the venue is too small to accommodate these numbers with appropriate social distancing, then no more than 50% of the capacity of the venue may be used. All other restrictions remain in place.
• The risk of an increase in infections is still high, given the high transmissibility of the Omicron variant. The government, therefore, calls on all organisers of gatherings to ensure that all health protocols are observed at all times and that all attendees are encouraged to be vaccinated. • Alcohol establishments that have licences to operate beyond 23h00 will revert back to full licence conditions.
• The NCCC will continue to closely monitor the situation and will make further adjustments as necessary, particularly if pressure on health facilities increases.
• The wearing of masks in public places is still mandatory, and failure to wear a mask when required remains a criminal offence.