Government’s lifting of the booze ban, put in place to help ease pressure on hospitals battling a second wave of Covid-19 infections, is likely to bring a slight increase in infections.
Ministerial advisory committee co-chair Prof Salim Abdool Karim issued this warning after President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on the easing of the sale of alcohol last week that, adding: “It takes about seven to 10 days. I can’t predict how big it is going to be.”
But apart from the probable bump in new infections, fears of increased hospital admissions are being fulfilled.
Law-enforcement authorities in greater Durban and Johannesburg on Sunday said they have had their hands full with vehicle accidents, a surge in the number of drivers taking to the roads under the influence of alcohol and incidents of domestic of violence.
Abdool Karim explained why restrictions were required in government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The first is that alcohol-related medical conditions like pancreatitis, motor vehicle accidents and interpersonal violence ... they use the same medical facilities in the hospital that we need for Covid. They use the emergency room, the casualty department, the theatres, the ICUs and the high care, and the oxygen — all the same things the Covid patients need.
“When you have a situation where we are having to deal with all the alcohol-related problems at the same time as Covid, it’s a massive problem. That is why we have to restrict alcohol. We just need to restrict it when the hospitals are under huge pressure.
“The second reason is for prevention. We need alcohol restrictions to reduce the risks for super-spreading events. We don’t want to have a rebound. Then we can only ease restrictions when the viral transmission is very low.
“It is quite low in most of the provinces. It’s only a few provinces, like KwaZulu-Natal, where it is still not low enough,” said Abdool Karim.
By Saturday night, KwaZulu-Natal had more than 40,000 active Covid-19 cases, by far the most in SA. The Western Cape had 11,200 active cases and Gauteng 7,600.
As Covid numbers are decreasing, alcohol-related injuries are now increasing and this will definitely put pressure on hospitals.
— Garrith Jamieson, Advanced Life Support paramedics
eThekwini metro police spokesperson Sen Supt Parboo Sewpersad said on Sunday that the force had seen more accidents, domestic violence cases and complaints of “partying at residences” in the past few days, compared with previous weeks.
Garrith Jamieson of Advanced Life Support paramedics said they had experienced more road accidents since the ban was lifted.
“As Covid numbers are decreasing, alcohol-related injuries are now increasing, and this will definitely put pressure on hospitals,” he said.
Johannesburg Metro Police Department (JMPD) spokesperson Wayne Minnaar said 42 people suspected off driving under the influence of alcohol had been arrested since February 1.
“This is more than double the amount arrested since January. Motorists are urged not to drive after consuming alcohol.
“Drunken drivers will get arrested and more drunken driving operations will be conducted.
“The drunken drivers will be taken for blood samples and they will be detained at police stations,” said Minnaar.
JMPD posted on its official Twitter account on Saturday that a motorist was “arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol with a reading 0,98 mg/l per 1,000ml”.
According to a Sunday Times Daily report last week, doctors have called for new laws to enforce responsible drinking, saying the strict lockdown regulations drastically improved hospital bed availability.
Alcohol sales have been banned for three separate periods since the Covid-19 lockdown was first imposed at the end of March last year.
Dr Ken Boffard, trauma director at Netcare’s Milpark Hospital in Johannesburg and emeritus professor of surgery at Wits university in the city, said it was not only the alcohol sales ban, but also the curfew that made a difference.
“The ban has hit restaurants hard. The lift should be to allow responsible drinking, such as at restaurants, with sales being allowed [on] certain days of the week.
“Previously, weekend alcohol sale restrictions were shown to reduce the number of hospital admissions over weekends.”
He said what SA needed was for the country’s blood alcohol and breath alcohol limits for driving to be zero.
“This will probably halve the motor vehicle accident victims we see in trauma units.
“Then there also needs to be a doubling of tax on alcohol, with that extra money going into SA’s healthcare system.”
Boffard said in December 24% of motor vehicle accident victim admissions were over the legal alcohol limit, “down from 60% at the beginning of January 2020”.
This appears to have the backing of cooperative governance and traditional affairs (Cogta) minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma. In an affidavit filed as part of an ongoing court case involving SA Breweries, the minister said in the medium to long term the country had to relook at its alcohol legislation.
According to Dlamini-Zuma, it was suggested alcohol advertising be outlawed, there be better tracking and enforcement of illicit alcohol sales and/or the legal drinking age should be increased.
“All of these I considered to be useful medium- to long-term tolls to reduce South Africa’s high rate of alcohol consumption to be considered by the legislature in due course,” Dlamini-Zuma said.
LISTEN | Police minister Bheki Cele reveals how he feels about alcohol & more
Subscribe for free: iono.fm | Spotify | Apple Podcasts | Pocket Casts | Player.fm
Would you like to comment on this article?
Sign up (it's quick and free) or sign in now.
Please read our Comment Policy before commenting.