Teachers’ unions said that they were eagerly waiting for the 300,000 COVID-19 vaccines promised by Aspen Pharmacare to arrive but were worried about the quantity being earmarked for South Africa's teachers.
As the country edges closer to a COVID-19 third wave, there are growing calls for more stringent regulations to be imposed, among them, the closure of schools. But the department's Elijah Mhlanga said that this would be damaging to pupils who were already playing catch-up.
The Department of Basic Education's Elijah Mhlanga said that it was best for pupils to remain at school where safety measures were in place.
Over the same 24-hour period, 114 more people have died in South Africa after contracting the coronavirus, pushing the national death toll to 57,879.
Gauteng accounted for the majority of the daily infections in the country and hospitals were feeling the pressure. With the indefinite closure of the Charlotte Maxeke Academic Hospital both public and private facilities were running out of ICU beds.
Several bans on liquor sales imposed since South Africa was placed under a state of disaster more than a year ago helped free up bed space in trauma units but hit the alcohol industry hard.
Last week the province entered the third wave, as did the country. Western Cape head of Health Dr Keith Cloete has expressed concern over the increase in hospital admissions and called for stricter restrictions on gatherings.
Fifty-nine additional COVID-19 deaths have been recorded to the country's death toll in the same 24-hour cycle, bringing the total number of fatalities to 57,765.
On Sunday, Ramaphosa announced that South Africa would pull two million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine following contamination concerns at one of the company's sites in the United States.
The province now joined the Free State, Gauteng, the North West and the Northern Cape as provinces confirmed to have entered a third wave.
It comes as South Africa has entered the third wave with the NICD announcing that 9,149 new cases have been recorded in the past day.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that government would amend schedule two of the Electricity Regulation Act to raise the exemption threshold from 1 megawatt to 100 megawatts.
Premier Alan Winde said that the CTICC would be the first of at least three major vaccination centres in Cape Town.
There’s been a surge in COVID -19 cases in South Africa, with over 8,000 infections recorded over the last 24-hour cycle, while 127 people have succumbed to the virus.
Western Cape Premier Alan Winde said that there'd been a more than 34% increase in COVID-19 cases week on week.
The Gauteng Health Department launched 25 additional vaccination venues on Wednesday to ramp up its inoculation drive in the province.
Both the Inkatha Freedom Party (IFP) and Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) have made similar pleas on the basis of safety fears in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In the same 24-hour cycle, 57,310 deaths have been recorded after 127 fatalities were reported.
