For the first time SA will have a localised lockdown, with the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro in the Eastern Cape facing tougher restrictions than the rest of the country from Thursday midnight. President Cyril Ramaphosa in an address to the nation on Thursday also announced the extension of the state of disaster until January 15. SA has been in a state of disaster since March 15. His address follows a special sitting of the cabinet that considered recommendations of the national coronavirus command council (NCCC) meeting. While he announced stricter measures in the Eastern Cape metro, Ramaphosa steered clear of plunging the whole country into another hard lockdown. The rest of the country remains on level 1 restrictions, Ramaphosa said, as he called on South Africans to adhere to the rules which are now in place. The increased restrictions in the metro, which includes an earlier curfew and stricter conditions on the sale of alcohol, comes amid a resurgence of infections in the Eastern Cape and in the Western Cape.

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