{"id":2143,"date":"2021-01-11T17:49:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:49:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.com\/south-africa\/?p=2143"},"modified":"2021-01-11T17:19:08","modified_gmt":"2021-01-11T17:19:08","slug":"level-4-lockdown-message-on-whatsapp-slammed-as-fake-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/level-4-lockdown-message-on-whatsapp-slammed-as-fake-news","title":{"rendered":"Level 4 lockdown message on WhatsApp slammed as fake news"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press<\/a> – South-Africa<\/a>. <\/strong><\/span>Cape Town – Just hours before President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation after rumours of a hard lockdown, fake news has been circulating over WhatsApp over looming level 4 restrictions.<\/p>\n

The message states: \u201cWe just had confirmation from National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) that employers\/businesses must prepare for level 4 provincial lockdown for 30 days from January 16 to February 15 and only 10% workforce capacity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAll international travel and borders will shut down \u2013 date to be confirmed as all travellers will be given time to leave or travel back to their home province. Alcohol and tobacco sales will be impacted; with more strict curfew hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnder level 4 restrictions that were in place in May, travel between provinces was banned, with the exception of transporting goods, and borders remained closed to international travel, except for the repatriation of South African nationals and foreign citizens.\u201d<\/p>\n

Director of the Government Communication and Information System Phumla Williams confirmed that the WhatsApp message doing the rounds was untrue: \u201cThe information being peddled purportedly from Nedlac on planned level 4 lockdown announcement is not true. It is fake news.\u201d<\/p>\n

It’s not the first time unconfirmed messages regarding Ramaphosa implementing lockdown restrictions surfaced, particularly around the tobacco ban.<\/p>\n

Sources have, however, confirmed to the Cape Argus that a recommendation was made to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) to move the country to level 4 of the lockdown for 30 days, but no decision had been taken.<\/p>\n

Reports have indicated that Ramaphosa will be leaving South Africa on level 3 of the nationwide lockdown and continue the ban on the sale of alcohol.<\/p>\n

Ramaphosa\u2019s spokesperson, Tyrone Seale, said: \u201cThe address follows meetings in recent NCCC, the President\u2019s Coordinating Council and Cabinet.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Ramaphosa also hosted a virtual engagement on Sunday between government and interfaith leaders on the Covid-19 Risk-Adjusted Strategy which is an inclusive national effort that enables adaptive responses to the shifting pandemic. This engagement focused on the unfolding pandemic in the country and on the continent, including efforts to secure vaccines for all.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cape Argus<\/b><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – South-Africa. Cape Town – Just hours before President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation after rumours of a hard lockdown, fake news has been circulating over WhatsApp over looming level 4 restrictions. The message states: \u201cWe just had confirmation from National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) that employers\/businesses must prepare […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":2142,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2,3,7,8],"tags":[274,315,275],"class_list":["post-2143","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-community","category-head-lines","category-homepage-english","tag-africa-press","tag-africa-press-south-africa","tag-south-africa-2"],"yoast_head":"\nLevel 4 lockdown message on WhatsApp slammed as fake news - South Africa<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Cape Town - Just hours before President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to address the nation after rumours of a hard lockdo ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/south-africa\/all-news\/level-4-lockdown-message-on-whatsapp-slammed-as-fake-news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Level 4 lockdown message on WhatsApp slammed as fake news\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cape Town - 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