The South African government has lifted nighttime restrictions on people’s movements as of Thursday, as it believes the nation has passed the peak of its fourth Covid-19 wave, driven by the Omicron variant.
“The curfew will be lifted. There will therefore be no restrictions on the hours of movement of people,” the government said in a statement, as it announced easing Covid-19 restrictions following a “Special cabinet meeting.” According to some reports, it was the first time the curfew had been lifted in almost two years, since the start of the pandemic.
The African nation saw an almost 30% decrease in new cases in the week ending on December 25 compared to the previous one, the statement said. It added that the number of infections was also declining in all but two of its provinces, as was the case with hospitalizations as well, with the Western Cape being the sole exception.
“All indicators suggest the country may have passed the peak of the fourth wave at a national level,” the government statement said. The update comes about a month after the new and highly-transmissible Omicron variant was first identified in South Africa. Since then, the nation’s medics have repeatedly noted that the new strain caused lighter symptoms in South African patients.