GOOD welcomes progress and shift to Alert Level 1

28 February 2021  

The President’s announcement that declining Covid-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths has enabled the government to lift most of the Covid-19 restrictions and move back to alert level 1 is welcome.

Economic and social restrictions should not be in place any longer than is necessary to contain the spread of the virus; or to ensure that our health care capacity is able to cope with the demand for treatment for Covid-19 and other medical needs.

We must learn from our experience, last year, when we moved to level 1 and some people acted irresponsibly.  We witnessed rapidly rising infections and hospitalisations to the point where we were forced into a relatively hard lockdown just as our peak summer season coincided with a devastating second wave.

A third wave is inevitable, as seen in other countries around the world, and it is vital that we improve our vigilant adherence to health and social protocols so that we mitigate the need for another hard lockdown.

Those who operate in the hospitality industry must be extra vigilant – we do not want to see the kinds of irresponsible super-spreader events that we saw at the end of last year. 

It is important that our businesses are able to plan and execute a recovery plan without the threat of further shutdowns hanging over them.

We welcome the easing of restrictions and we urge South Africans to remain vigilant and compliant.  It is in all our interests.

Issued by Brett Herron, Secretary General, GOOD, 28 February 2021