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Saturday, January 24, 2026

Ramaphosa urges caution: “It is too soon to celebrate”

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President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on citizens to keep on acting responsibly in order not to infect others with the Covid-19-virus. This after he announced over the weekend, that Alert Level 2 of the lockdown will commence.

This means more businesses will be allowed to re-open, including gyms. The prohibition on the sale of tobacco products has been lifted and alcohol will be sold from Mondays to Thursdays again.

In his weekly newsletter, published on the eve of the new Alert Level Ramaphosa warned it is too soon to celebrate.

“We are still very much in the middle of a deadly pandemic that has taken over 11,000 lives in South Africa alone. At more than half a million confirmed cases, we still have the fifth highest number of infections in the world. And there is always a chance of a resurgence of the disease.

If we ever need a stark reminder of the need for vigilance, we should look to recent events thousands of kilometres away in New Zealand. Three months since the country was declared coronavirus-free, New Zealand is once again under lockdown. Although the latest outbreak was of relatively few cases, the government swiftly re-imposed lockdown restrictions.

Similar restrictions have had to be reimposed in several parts of Europe as they experience a ‘second wave’ of infections. These experiences show just how swiftly things can change when it comes to COVID-19.”

Read the full letter HERE.

Liesl Smit
Liesl Smit
Liesl is the Smile 90.4FM News Manager. She has been at Smile since 2016, with nearly 20 years experience in the radio industry, including reading news, field reporting and producing. In 2008 she won the Vodacom Journalist of the Year Award, Western Cape region. liesl@smile904.fm

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