South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Friday urged the people to not to drink responsibly and not put undue pressure on the national health system, reported News 24.
The president made the appeal as alcohol-related injuries had spiked this week almost immediately after the restriction on its sale was lifted on Monday under Level 3 lockdown.
While speaking in Brackenfell, Cape Town, on Friday, Ramaphosa said when alcohol sales were legalised on Monday there was a sudden increase in the utilisation of hospital beds due to alcohol-related harms. He said the country’s alcohol consumption was one of the highest in the world.
The South African president said during lockdown level 5 and 4, alcohol consumption had gone down in the country, and drunken driving accidents had stopped, almost none, and hospital beds had become empty of patients with trauma.
“As we opened, we suddenly saw a spike in the utilisation of hospital beds,” Ramaphosa said.
He said while it was always going to be difficult and risky for the government to lift the ban on alcohol sales, the government was not contemplating re-banning alcohol as yet.
However, he made an appeal to South Africans to behave in a responsible manner that takes into account the rights of other people to health and also to health care.
“When you are at war, many activities of a pleasant nature come to a halt. We would like to see that also happening around the utilisation of alcohol, that people should drink responsibly,” the South African president urged.
Meanwhile, on Thursday, South Africa recorded a whopping 3,267 new Covid-19 cases, the biggest jump since the pandemic began. The country is the worst hit in sub-Saharan Africa and has nearly a quarter of all cases on the continent, with 40,792 infections and 848 deaths.
Western Cape is the country’s main coronavirus hotspot, with around two-thirds of the country’s total number of coronavirus cases.
