South Africa Puts More Vooma In Its Covid-19 Jab Campaign

President Cyril Ramaphosa is leading the inaugural Vooma Vaccination Weekend in Gauteng province, that gets underway on October 1-3, 2021. The initiative aims to mobilise citizens and people living in South Africa to get vaccinated against Covid-19. 

"Vaccines are safe and easy to receive. They protect people against serious illness, hospitalisation and death. And when the majority of people in the country are vaccinated, the nation will experience a greater sense of freedom and safety in social interactions and economic activity," said the Presidency.

The campaign is giving effect to the call by the president for every minister, premier and mayor to convene at least one prominent event in every district in the country, to support and encourage people to get vaccinated against the novel Coronavirus. The accelerated vacination effort comes after President Ramaphosa announced a move to reduce the Covid-19 Locdown to level 1.

Under the new regulations, curfew lasts from midnight to 4am, restaurants, bars and stores can sell alcohol as per their licences up until 11pm, and attendance at indoor gatherings has been raised from 250 to 750 people and at outdoor events from 500 to 2,000 people. Maximum funeral attendance has been raised from 50 to 100, while gatherings after funerals, known as "after tears" events are still banned.

The return to Level 1 follows the official end of South Africa's third wave of the coronavirus pandemic., writes Greg Nicolson for Daily Maverick.

After reaching peak daily infection rates of more than 20,000 during the third wave, which lasted longer than the first and second waves, the country's seven-day rolling average infection rate has fallen to 1,800. There have been corresponding drops in hospitalisations and deaths.

As of October 1, 2021, a total of 2,902,672 cases of Covid-19 has been confirmed in the nation of which 87,626 proved fatal and 2,773,344 resulted in recovery.