South Africa’s President, Cyril Ramaphosa

Fearing South Africa will soon face a third wave of Covid-19, President Cyril Ramaphosa reimposed stricter measures in the country.

Four of the nation’s nine provinces, including Gauteng which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria and has the biggest population, are already battling a third wave of infections, Ramaphosa said on Sunday.

“It may only be a matter of time before the country as a whole will have entered a third wave,” he said.

South Africa is officially the worst-hit country on the continent with more than 1.65 million cases and 56,363 deaths.

“The number of infections has begun to rise sharply in several parts of the country,” the president said as hospital entries also climb.

“Delaying the spread of the virus is especially important now to allow as many people as possible to be vaccinated before the third wave reaches its peak,” he added.

The restrictions, starting on Monday, will force non-essential establishments like restaurants, bars and fitness centres to close by 10pm local time (20:00 GMT) as the curfew will be extended by an hour to start at 11pm and end at 4am.

Gatherings, including political and faith events, will be limited to 250 people outdoors and 100 indoors.