President Cyril Ramaphosa on the campaign trail in October 2021. (Photo by Sharon Seretlo/Gallo Images via Getty Images)
President Cyril Ramaphosa resumed his duties on Monday after being on self-isolation for a week.
Ramaphosa had been isolating with mild symptoms after testing positive for Covid-19 on 12 December.
In a statement from the Presidency, Ramaphosa thanked South Africans and leaders for wishing him well during his isolation period.
Ramaphosa would be chairing the last Cabinet meeting for the year on Wednesday, 22 December, the statement added.
The president encouraged everyone in the country to get vaccinated, continue wearing face masks, washing or sanitising hands, maintaining social distance and avoiding large gatherings.
After his positive test, Ramaphosa was reportedly in good spirits and was being monitored by the South African Military Health Service.
Fully vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson and Johnson (J&J) vaccine, Ramaphosa would have received his booster shot alongside Health Minister Joe Phaahla at Pretoria’s Zuid-Afrikaans hospital as part of the Sisonke 2 study on 14 December.
The study, which concluded on 17 December, was done to monitor the effectiveness of the J&J booster on health workers who received the first shot in February, when Ramaphosa became one of the first South Africans to get inoculated.
As of 19 December, more than 27.52 million vaccine doses had been administered to more than 17.63-million South Africans. More than 15 465 new Covid-19 cases were reported on the same day, with three Covid-19 related deaths reported.