Coronavirus: South Africa bans alcohol sales

As part of measures of reducing the spread of coronavirus among people, the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has introduced new restrictions which will see a ban on sales of alcohol in the country.

According to him, the ban on alcohol will also help take the pressure off the national healthcare system adding that a night curfew has also being imposed with the compulsory wearing of face mask which he believes will help contain the spread of the virus.

President, Cyril Ramaphosa said "The total infections also exceeds a quarter of a million.

4,000 deaths have been recorded from the virus but the government projects an estimate rise to 5,000 by the end of year"

ThinkNewsOnline has gathered that as far as the pandemic is concerned, South Africa remains the highest - hit of the virus and the cases keep rising on a daily basis with Gauteng being the epicenter of the outbreak.

Addressing the public, His Excellency, Ramaphosa said "Most people had taken action to help prevent the spread, but there were still some who acted without any responsibility to respect and protect each other. There are a number of people who have taken to organising parties, who have drinking sprees and some work around crowded spaces without wearing masks"

The President added that the new measures have been put in place to help minimize the spread of the virus.

It is emerging that the South African Government says its state of emergency would be extended to August 15, 2020 with the night curfew starting from 9:00pm to 4:00 am.

He noted that 28,000 hospital beds have been made available for the Covid-19 patients but availability of health workers in the country is still a problem since there's a shortage of more than 12,000 of nurses, doctors and physiotherapists.

Although doctors and police officers say the ban has helped reduce emergency cases in the hospitals, brewers and wine makers are complaining that the ban is a threat to their business.

Story by: Henrietta Bervelyn Allotey