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The South African president has announced tough new restrictions to limit the impact of a third wave of the coronavirus. For the next two weeks alcohol sales are banned and all gatherings – including political and religious ones – are not allowed.

The South African government has also extended an overnight curfew and ordered schools to close next week. The Delta variant, first identified in India, is now dominating infections in South Africa – and has pushed the country right back to where it was in January – with more than 18,000 new cases on Saturday.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said the existing measures were not enough to cope with the speed and scale of infections.

“We are in the grip of a devastating wave that by all indications seems like it will be worse than those that preceded it. The peak of this third wave looks set to be higher than the previous two,” he said.
He said the country was facing a grave challenge with public health facilities stretched to the limit and private hospitals also buckling under the strain.

South Africa’s vaccination drive is progressing slowly. Only 2.5 million people have had a jab out of a population of 59 million.

Mr Ramaphosa said new arrivals of doses will allow the vaccination programme to speed up.

Meanwhile Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni has called out “vaccine selfishness” in the world but said it will “wake up” Africans to be self-sufficient. President Museveni said what Africa needs is raw materials to produce its own Covid vaccines and not donations from the developed nations.

“Africans are a disgrace to ourselves. Why do we have to depend on the outside for everything. This is a big shame for Africa,” he told delegates attending the World Health Summit on Sunday.
 Ugandan  President Museveni said countries across the continent need to stop waiting for vaccine donations and manufacture them locally.

“This selfishness in the world is bad, but is good. I like it because it wakes up Africans. It a shame the whole of the African continent is just asleep, waiting to be saved by others like it happened during the slave trade,” he said.

President Museveni said Uganda was in the process of making its own Covid vaccine and only needed help with some raw materials saying, “Don’t worry we shall buy them. We don’t need donations.”

The African Union has been calling for a Covid vaccine patent waiver to allow the continent to make its own vaccines as shortage continues in different countries.

The World Health Organization has been urging for equitable vaccine access with the African continent lagging behind at less than 2% vaccination.