Gauteng premier David Makhura says the province is ready to move to lockdown alert level 1. 

Makhura, who was addressing media in Khutsong, said the “Covid-19 situation” in the province has improved in the past two months. 

He said the decrease in the number of infected people, new cases and hospital admissions was an indication that the risk level was low. 

“We want to move to level 1. As a province and as a country, we have long come out of the third wave,” said Makhura. 

He said the province was ready to open more sectors of the economy.

“We want more sectors of the economy to operate so that people can earn an income and livelihoods,” he said. 

Makhura also encouraged those who have not received their second Pfizer vaccine jabs to do so immediately. 

He said more than a million Gauteng residents haven't received their second jabs. 

“We have over a million people who have taken their first dose of Pfizer whose days have come and passed for their second dose, and they haven’t pitched at the vaccination site. I want to call on them to please go for their second dose.

“We know that the scientists say one dose of Pfizer protects you, but the second dose makes you even safer,” he said.

SA not lifting the state of disaster 

According to President Cyril Ramaphosa, plans to lift the state of disaster are not on the cards yet.  

Ramaphosa said the government was dependent on the state of disaster to respond to potential Covid-19 waves in the future. 

“I wish it could end today. I really wish we could say the state of disaster has ended, but we are guided by science and the science of the pandemic and the advisory committee advises us on all this,” he said.

Ramaphosa said there was concern about a fourth wave later this year.

The government declared the national state of disaster under the Disaster Management Act on March 15, 2020 in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.