President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that South Africa will be moving to alert level 2 allowing travel between provinces and the sale of alcohol and tobacco products.

The move comes after a special cabinet meeting on Saturday afternoon. Throughout the week, cabinet received advice from health experts who advised that the country has now managed to slow down the transmission of the Covid-19 virus and that health-care infrastructure would not be undermined.

On day 142 of the nationwide lockdown, which was announced in March, Ramaphosa has given the go-ahead for the sale of tobacco products which have been prohibited throughout the period, resulting in a number of legal challenges. Finance minister Tito Mboweni had publicly expressed his unhappiness with the move which has severely affected the country’s ability to collect revenue even as the economy tanks.

During his address to the nation on Saturday night, Ramaphosa said in the five months since the declaration of the national state of disaster to combat the coronavirus, the pandemic has taken a heavy toll – "on the health of our people, on families and communities, on the public health system, on the economy and on people’s everyday lives." But, there are now signs of hope.

"All indications are that South Africa has reached the peak and moved beyond the inflection point of the curve.

"Most of our health facilities have proven resilient, capable and able to withstand and deal with the surge.

"The modelled projections of infections, hospitalisation and deaths have had to be adjusted downwards as we have recorded better progress in the management of the disease."