VIGILS ALLOWED, FULL CAPACITY FOR CHURCHES, BUT ...

MBABANE - The wearing of face masks in open spaces is no longer mandatory in groups of not more than five people.

This was announced by the Prime Minister (PM), Cleopas Dlamini, during a press briefing held at Cabinet Offices yesterday. Dlamini announced that people were no longer required to wear masks when they were outdoors. However, when going into shops, hospital and indoor gatherings, people were expected to wear their masks. The PM specifically said large outdoor gatherings shall continue to observe social distancing of at least one metre apart and people shall continue to wear face masks. People with flu-like symptoms were told to not participate in gatherings whether indoor or outdoor. He said the county was ‘learning to live with the virus in our presence’.  “The changes come after we witnessed a declining rate of COVID-19 cases and severe illness from the virus in recent weeks,” he said.

Decline

In addition, he said the COVID-19 pandemic remained a major health issue in the kingdom and the rest of the globe. Dlamini said over the past three months, however, the country had seen a slow decline in new cases, with sporadic detection of new cases of the virus, especially among the younger age groups below the age of 30 years. “We have also seen a drastic reduction in the number of new cases, hospitalisation and deaths among those above 60 years, which could be related to the higher vaccination coverage of almost 70 per cent among the older age groups,” he said.

In reaction to this, Senator Chief Ngalonkhulu said they were thankful to government for the scrapping of masks. He said; “Thank God, praise to be to God.”  He further said they trusted the leadership by government and the decision they had taken. The senator trended two weeks back when he said in Senate; “Our children cannot even take wives because women’s beauty is hidden behind these face masks.” He said this during a sitting of the Ministry of Health Portfolio Committee debate of the ministry’s annual performance report in Parliament.

Masks

Meanwhile, Manzini Regional Administrator (RA) Chief Gija said people should still wear their masks. He said no one would take them to task for wearing their masks even though government had scrapped them. Chief Gija said masks played a huge role in making sure people did not catch or transmit COVID-19. He further applauded government for taking such a leadership decision on the PCR tests. “This is good news, we can only trust government that it saw it fit to relax the restrictions. I would, however, advice people to keep their masks on at all times,” he said. The PM further announced other restrictions where he said even though the country was experiencing a period of calm from the COVID-19 storm, the emergence of new variants and sub variants remained a threat.

He announced that churches may operate at full capacity provided indoor COVID-19 measures such as wearing of face masks and social distancing of one metre were adhered to. This includes funeral services and memorial services. The PM said in funeral and memorial services, the wearing of face masks and adherence to COVID-19 restrictions was required. “Kufukama and vigils are now permitted but must be conducted in strict adherence to COVID-19. Sale and consumption of alcohol on premises within approved trading hours is allowed,” he said. Members of the public were evidently thrilled by the relaxation of the restrictions as seen on social media platforms mostly Facebook and Twitter.

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