Despite a stern warning from President Cyril Ramaphosa, holidaymakers flocked to the Durban beachfront a day after his address to the nation with no masks, social distancing or regular sanitising in sight.

• Despite warnings from President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night, the Durban beachfront was packed on Tuesday.
• For a second day in a row, News24 observed no social distancing, wearing of masks or sanitising by beachgoers.
• Ramaphosa announced he would shut down beaches in Durban on the seven busiest days to avoid the spread of Covid-19.

Despite a stern warning from President Cyril Ramaphosa, holidaymakers flocked to the Durban beachfront a day after his address to the nation with no masks, social distancing or regular sanitising in sight.
News24 visited Wedge Beach on Durban’s Golden Mile where, for a second day in a row, beachgoers visited and continued with business as usual despite a second wave of Covid-19 infections throughout South Africa.
Families could be seen swimming, cycling and generally enjoying the traditional festive nature of the coveted beachfront area.
While there was heavy security, there was little enforcement of Covid-19 regulations.
READ | All the new rules for December: Close beaches, booze restrictions, curfews
Ramaphosa on Monday night announced that all beaches in the Eastern Cape, as well as in the Garden Route in the Western Cape, would be closed from 16 December to 3 January 2021.
Beaches in KwaZulu-Natal, however, will only be closed on the busiest days of the season, namely 16, 25, 26 and 31 December, as well as from 1 to 3 January.
He said gatherings, “especially social gatherings and parties are the largest source of outbreaks”.
News24 reported him saying that at many such gatherings, social distancing was not observed, crowded venues were not properly ventilated, hand sanitiser was not readily available, and people were not wearing masks.
Ramaphosa also bemoaned that many people consumeg alcoholic drinks at “superspreader events, with the result that people become less careful about taking measures to protect themselves and prevent infection”.
He said the current restrictions on the size of gatherings were not doing enough and restricted even religious gatherings to no more than 100 people for indoor events and 250 for outdoor ones.