Cape Town Mayor Dan Plato has called for a total lifting of South Africa’s State of Disaster, supporting the appeal by the Western Cape government.
“The City of Cape Town adds its voice to calls by the Western Cape government to end the lockdown entirely and place trust in the public to continue to be responsible,” he said in a column in PoliticsWeb.
“After more than 18 months, businesses can simply no longer endure this back-and-forth of changing lockdown levels. They experienced severe strain with reduced income and job losses trying to adapt and survive in these very challenging circumstances. As we approach the summer and peak tourism season, we need to give the economy the best chance at recovery.
“We support the call made earlier this month by the Western Cape provincial government for a differentiated approach based on each provinceʼs healthcare system. The Cape Town metro and Western Cape government are capable of adopting a more nuanced approach to balance an appropriate health response, but also help the economy recover quicker.
“We reiterate that to move beyond the pandemic, we must greatly expand the vaccination rollout, but allow local areas to implement appropriate measures to mitigate the negative impacts as far as possible. From today and over the weekend, the City is participating in the Vooma vaccination drive to encourage many more people to get vaccinated as soon as possible. As seen in the statistics, those who are vaccinated have an additional defence against COVID-19, with significantly lower numbers being admitted to hospital or dying from COVID.”
Nationally, 17 million people have received at least one dose of the vaccine, with 8,6m fully vaccinated. However, Plato said, the vaccination rate is too slow.
A cumulative total of 2 851 485 vaccines had been administered to healthcare workers, staff in the education sector and those within eligible age brackets, by 29 September 2021.
“In Cape Town, we are continuing to play our part to assist with the ramping up of the national vaccine rollout after the opening of mass vaccination sites, with 3,000 vaccination sites across the country,” he said.
PoliticsWeb article – Call for total lifting of State of Disaster – Dan Plato (Open access)
See more from MedicalBrief archives:
Decline in South Africa's vaccine rate is a ‘national emergency’
State and constitutional activists in rare agreement
‘Not a single vaccinated person in COVID-19 high care ward’ — Groote Schuur doctor