COVID 19 SECOND WAVE: SOUTH AFRICA CLOSES LAND BORDERS, EXTENDS RESTRICTIONS
South Africa has shut down its land borders and extended COVID 19 restrictions following a spike in Coronavirus infections in the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa who made the announcement on Monday night stated that the pandemic in South Africa is at its most devastating, "and the deaths that continue to take place come far higher than it has ever been since the first case was recorded" in March 2020.
President Ramaphosa announced that 20 land borders will be closed until February 15.
The President acknowledged that the massive spread of the second wave of the Coronavirus in South Africa is as a result of the new variant of Covid 19 discovered in the country last year.
"We do know that this new variant of the virus tends to spread much faster than the earlier variant. This explains that many more people have become infected in a far shorter space of time," President Ramaphosa said.
He disclosed that nearly 100,000 Covid 19 infections have been reported since the new year and over 150,000 Coronavirus patients have been hospitalized.
South Africa has recorded 15,046 new COVID 19 cases including 416 deaths bringing the total number of recorded COVID-19 infections in the country to 1,246 643 and 33,479 deaths.
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