KwaZulu Natal Premier Sihle Zikalala has vowed to clamp down on restaurants that continue to flout COVID-19 regulations.

South Africa is currently under adjusted Level 3 of the lockdown.

Coronavirus cases are subsiding in badly hit provinces such as Gauteng and the Western Cape – but increasing fast in KwaZulu Natal where the third wave of infections has officially arrived.

Zikalala says the violence and looting in the province by people who were not wearing masks or practicing any form of social distancing is partly to blame for the increase in new cases.

The premier has reminded restaurants, taverns and pubs that should they not adhere to protocols, they will be forced to close.

He says, “There is still a curfew and people must operate from four to ten, there are still regulations that only 50 people are indoors and all regulations must be followed as such and only 100 people outdoors…”

“We will be dealing with areas where business and restaurants in particular as well as pubs are undermining these regulations and we will be hard on that. We are not going to relent on that,” added Zikalala.

KZN Premier Sihle Zikalala provides update on COVID-19 statistics in the province

KZN Health MEC Nomagugu Simelane said they are concerned that the province has surpassed Gauteng with over 2000 daily infections.

Simelane said the recent unrests could have contributed to the rising numbers, she added that the province has not yet reached its third wave.

“The issue of clusters and super spreader events are some things that will affect our infections as a province. As you would know in the past two weeks or so, we had unrest in the province and we really were not able to determine the extent that those unrests had affected our people.

Source: SABC