According to Mkhize, the reduction in the severity of the second wave of infections was because of the extent to which people used masks and observed social distancing.
On how the government decided to ease the lockdown restrictions, the minister said they were guided by the hospitalisation numbers, the number of deaths and the general extent to which society was affected by Covid-19.
He said it was justifiable to ease the restrictions and move SA to lockdown level 1, as the country moved from recording 20,000 positive cases in a day to about 1,500 a day.
“It is still high, but nevertheless much lower than what we have seen before,” he said.
He also cited the low positivity rate — the number of positive test results compared to the number of test conducted in the same period — which has gone from more than 30% at the height of the peak of the second wave to consistently in the single figures now.
He said people must continue with the containment measures by using masks, sanitising hands and observing social distancing.
However, he said government would remain vigilant to see if there was any change that suggested a virus resurgence was coming.
TimesLIVE