All of South Africa’s Covid-19 restrictions have been lifted – including the need to wear masks anywhere.
It took less than a hundred words – including his signature – for Health Minister Joe Phaahla to end 818 days of Covid restrictions.
And it happened without any fanfare late on Wednesday evening.
Officially what Phaahla did was to repeal the relevant three sections recently added to the National Health Act.
That means it all goes:
Masks aren’t required anywhere, number limits on gatherings are a thing of the past,
and special requirements around vaccine status for people entering the country have ended.
After more than two years of differing levels of restriction – all announced in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s “family meetings” -ending things like this may feel like an anticlimax.
But there’ll be universal celebration that from Thursday, our lives have become that much more normal.
