Ramaphosa calls emergency National Covid-19 Command Council meeting
- President Cyril Ramaphosa has called an urgent meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council
- The group is expected to meet on Wednesday, with an announcement on the lockdown expected later this week
- This comes after top government officials denied a report that the group was set to meet this week on Monday
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The government's National Coronavirus Command Council is set to meet on Wednesday morning after President Cyril Ramaphosa convened an early gathering.
This meeting was set to happen only next week but the government has seemingly felt the need to fast-track discussions on the lockdown.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is then expected to address the nation by the end of the week on new lockdown measures agreed upon by the council.
Source: UGC
The Covid-19 death toll in South Africa has officially surpassed the 30 000 mark on Monday with 12 601 new infections reported by the Department of Health.
Athi Geleba, Head of Digital Communications in the Presidency, has confirmed that the meeting will be taking place:
"The National Coronvirus Command Council will be meeting tomorrow at 9 am."
Earlier, Briefly.co.za reported that South Africans have been debating the risk of the nation returning to Level 5 restrictions at some point this week.
A message surfaced online saying that 'a source close to the command council' had revealed meetings were underway to discuss measures set to curb the spread of Covid-19.
The message stated that it is believed that the 'President will take South Africa to Level 5 of the lockdown for a period of seven days starting tomorrow midnight'.
However, multiple sources have come out to condemn this message as false, including state spokesperson Phumla Williams who commented that:
"This message is doing the rounds on social media. This is fake, there is no planned National Coronavirus Command Council meeting."
Williams spoke to News24, confirming that the needed procedures for the announcement to take place are simply not on the cards, a sure sign that no family meeting is looming.
Williams pointed out that there are currently no NatJoints or NCCC meetings planned, highlighting that unless something 'major' happened in SA, the shift to Level 5 remains unlikely.
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Source: Briefly News
