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South African cabinet has eased lockdown restrictions from alert level three to level one, allowing political and religious gatherings, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Sunday night.

“In the week that has just passed, the country recorded just under 10,000 new infections,” Mr Ramaphosa said. 

“A month ago, in the last week of January, the country recorded over 40,000 new cases and a month before that, in the last week of December, the country recorded close to 90,000 new cases.”

Due to the decline in infections, the country can now “cautiously” ease some of the restrictions on movement and activities, he said.

Religious, social, political and cultural gatherings will be permitted, subject to limitations on size, adherence to social distancing and other health protocols.

The sale of alcohol will be permitted, according to normal licence provisions.

However, night vigils or other gatherings before or after funerals are still not permitted. Nightclubs will remain closed. The 33 land border posts that have been closed throughout this period will remain closed. The wearing of masks in public places is still mandatory.

President Ramaphosa said the return to Level 1 means that most of the remaining restrictions on economic activities have been removed.

“We expect this to lead to higher consumption spending, bolstered by the steady recovery in employment.”

The president said South Africa has now clearly emerged from the second wave which “was far more devastating and caused greater loss of life than the first wave.”

He believed the dramatic decline in cases over eight weeks is due to a combination of the public health measures introduced and accumulating immunity in those who became infected.

The President said more than 67,000 health workers who are on the frontline of fighting against Covid-19 have been vaccinated in the last ten days.

“We are steadily increasing the number of doses administered each day. All provinces have established vaccination sites and have put in place plans for the expansion of the programs as it gains momentum,” he added.

He said phase two of the vaccine rollout would begin in April or May, after the vaccination of medical workers, is completed.

“Phase two will include the elderly, essential workers, persons living or working in institutional settings and those with co-morbidities,” he said.

Ramaphosa said South Africa has secured 11 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines from Johnson & Johnson, 20 million doses from Pfizer, 12 million doses from Covax — a multinational vaccine-sharing initiative backed by the World Health Organization — and is in the process of finalizing dose allocation from the African Union.

“We are in constant contact with various other vaccines manufacturers to ensure that we have the necessary quantities of vaccines when we need them,” he added.

The Palestinian Health Ministry has recommended a two-week lockdown amid a surge in coronavirus infections across the West Bank.

Palestinian Authority’s Health Minister Mai al-Kaila suggested Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh implement a comprehensive closure as positive cases had increased by some 20-30 percent, while hospital beds in several places are nearing full capacity, according to a statement on the ministry website.

“This is the third wave of the coronavirus outbreak in Palestine,” al-Kaila told local media on Friday. “And it is the most difficult period we have experienced since the beginning of the pandemic.”

The marked increase in the number of infected people is linked to the appearance of the new strains first reported in the United Kingdom and South Africa, the minister said, adding that cases related to the Brazilian strain have not been detected so far.

Coronavirus cases in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip have reached nearly 180,000, while more than 2,000 people have died, according to Johns Hopkins University.

The PA started its vaccination campaign in the West Bank on February 2 following the arrival of 2,000 doses from Israel, in addition to 10,000 doses from Russia.

The Gaza strip followed suit with a limited inoculation roll-out that began on Monday thanks to vaccines donated by Moscow and the United Arab Emirates.

Palestinians’ vaccine shortages stand in stark contrast to Israel, where 50 percent of its 9.3 million population has already received the first shot of a two doses vaccine. Palestinians citizens of Israel are among those vaccinated.

Israel has become a real-world test laboratory since it signed an agreement with Pfizer, promising to share medical data with the drug manufacturer in exchange for the continued flow of its vaccine.

United Nations officials and human rights groups have voiced concerns over the inequity in vaccine distribution and said Israel, as an occupying power, has an obligation to help the Palestinians.

Israel says that under interim peace accords, the PA is responsible.

On Thursday, the PA condemned Israel’s promise to send coronavirus vaccines to far-away countries while ignoring the five-million Palestinians living under its occupation. Honduras was the first one to receive a shipment of COVID-19 vaccines, after Israeli media reported earlier this week the government’s intention to send vaccines to the Central American country, in addition to Guatemala, Hungary and the Czech Republic.

In a report published on Monday, the World Bank urged Israel to consider donating surplus doses to the Palestinians to help accelerate a vaccine roll-out in the occupied West Bank and Gaza.

The report added that Palestinians’ COVID-19 vaccination plan faces a $30m funding shortfall, even after factoring in support from a global vaccine scheme for poorer economies.