- President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address the nation on Covid-19 on Monday night.
- He said this followed a meetings with the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), President's Coordinating Council (PCC), and a special sitting of Cabinet.
- This is the first address by the president since Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced a second wave last week.
President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to address South Africa on Covid-19 on Monday night, this as daily cases continue to increase.
"President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation on Monday evening, 14 December, on developments in relation to the country's response to the coronavirus pandemic," Presidency spokesperson Tyrone Seale said on Sunday evening.
SEE | News24's Covid-19 dashboard: Track the spread, recovery and mortality statistics here
He added the address followed Sunday meetings of the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC), President's Coordinating Council (PCC), and a special sitting of Cabinet.
The exact time of the president's address will be announced on Monday, this despite a number of broadcasters incorrectly reporting his address would be on Sunday evening.
"The address will be broadcast and streamed on a range of platforms that are accessible to South Africans and international audiences," Seale said.
Recent days have seen new cases hover around and above the 8 000 cases per day mark, this after Health Minister Zweli Mkhize declared a second wave of infections last week.
On Sunday, the KwaZulu-Natal health department confirmed there was a spike in infections among health workers and the public in the province.
Last week, News24 reported Mkhize confirmed a second wave had hit the country.
In a special live television broadcast on Wednesday night, 9 December, he said increases were seen in six provinces.
The peak age bracket of new cases in the past two days is between 15 and 19.
Mkhize said the new cases were believed to be due to a large number of parties involving young people drinking alcohol with no adherence to non-pharmaceutical interventions; not wearing masks and social distancing and hand sanitising also not taking place.
"A report from KwaZulu-Natal last week showed the pattern was more widespread than thought. This inevitably leads to superspreader activities which spill over into the rest of the country as the age group is highly mobile and the majority of the carriers are largely asymptomatic," he added.
Many of the new cases have been associated with a Rage event and other non-affiliated events in KwaZulu-Natal earlier this month.
Other Rage events have been cancelled, and authorities on the Garden Route and in the Cape metro cancelled planned events as the emergence of a second wave became clear.
