After almost two years, South Africans will be able to enjoy the outdoors without their face masks from Wednesday.

In a national address on Tuesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa lifted the Covid-19 requirement of wearing face masks outdoors.

"As before, it is mandatory to wear a cloth mask or similar covering over the nose and mouth when in public indoor spaces. However, a mask is not required when outdoors," Ramaphosa said.

"This means that we still need to wear masks when in shops, malls, offices, factories, taxis, buses, trains or any other indoor public space. But we do not need to wear masks when walking on the street or in an open space, when exercising outdoors or when attending an outdoor gathering," he said.

This was one of several eased restrictions Ramaphosa announced almost two years to the day that he addressed the country to declare the state of disaster.

While this may be a reason to smile, there will be some scratching of heads about when the state of disaster will be lifted.

Amid pressure from opposition parties, Ramaphosa said he would lift the state of disaster once the public participation process on future Covid-19 health regulations was completed.

The deadline for comments is 15 April.

However, Ramaphosa didn't indicate how long it would take for public comments to be processed to be encapsulated in the regulations.

However, Ramaphosa was quick to warn that lifting what he called a "drastic and unprecedented" state of disaster did not mean the end of the Covid-19 pandemic. Regulations - like wearing masks in indoor spaces - will still be a part of life until enough people have been vaccinated.

In his State of the Nation Address (SoNA) on 10 February, Ramaphosa said the National State of Disaster would end "soon", without committing to specific timelines.

"It is our intention, and my intention, to end the National State of Disaster as soon as we have finalised other measures under the National Health Act and other legislation to manage and contain the pandemic," Ramaphosa said at the time.

Two weeks later, Health Minister Joe Phaahla indicated that his department was working on the necessary regulations.

The state of disaster has been in place through the National Disaster Management Act. The National Health Act allows government regulations to curb the spread of communicable diseases.

The regulations were only published for public comment last week, necessitating another extension of the state of disaster to 15 April. This date is also the deadline for public comment on the proposed regulations.  

This led to the Democratic Alliance approaching the courts to end lockdown and its leader John Steenhuisen and Economic Freedom Fighters leader Julius Malema sparring with Ramaphosa in last week's question session in the National Assembly. Ramaphosa defended continuing the state of disaster.

AfriForum also headed to court to fight the extension of the state of disaster.

Meanwhile, health experts have said they don't see the point of continuing with the state of disaster and government apparently dragging its feet.

Professor of Vaccinology at the University of the Witwatersrand Shabir Madhi said the extension showed that government was "devoid of any understanding of the pandemic and flight of fantasy of what needs to be done without any clear goal in mind".

Against this backdrop, Ramaphosa on Tuesday said that South Africa had reached a "watershed moment".

"We are now ready to enter a new phase in our management of the pandemic," he said.

"After four waves of infection, fewer people are becoming severely ill and requiring hospitalisation. There are far fewer deaths than before.

"Our scientists tell us that this is mainly because some 60% to 80% of the population has some form of immunity to the virus, either from previous infection or vaccination. From the experience of the past two years, our health services have learnt to manage the disease more effectively."

He said people are used to wearing masks and washing their hands regularly.

"Most importantly, 48% of all adults have received at least one vaccine dose. We, therefore, enter the third year of this pandemic more hopeful than ever before," he said.

Ramaphosa said while the pandemic was not over, many parts of daily life were returning to normal.

"We see our economy returning to full operation. We feel the fear and despair of the last two years lifting from our shoulders.

"Due to the changing nature of the pandemic, and due to the progress that has been made through our collective efforts, we intend to lift the National State of Disaster as soon as public comment on the health regulations published by the minister of health has been completed.

"These regulations, when finalised, will replace the state of disaster regulations as the legal instrument that we use to manage the pandemic."

Ramaphosa invited all South Africans to have their voices heard on the draft regulations.

However, Ramaphosa stressed that Covid-19 was not gone yet.

"What should be clear is that the end of the National State of Disaster does not mean the end of the pandemic. It just means that we are changing the way we manage the pandemic, and we will be relying on health regulations rather than disaster management regulations. It means that we are learning to live with the virus in our presence," he said.

He said this meant that the economy could be opened further and many social and cultural activities could resume.

Ramaphosa announced a further relaxation of lockdown Level 1 restrictions.

"With these changes, almost all restrictions on social and economic activity will have been lifted.

"Going forward, our most important defences against the disease are, firstly, vaccination and, secondly, the observance of basic measures, such as wearing masks indoors."

He said South Africa's vaccination rate must be increased to further ease the remaining restrictions.

"The vaccine has been shown to significantly reduce severe illness. Statistics from our health facilities clearly show that people who are not vaccinated stand a higher chance of being hospitalised or dying from Covid-19."

According to the president, vaccination is likely to reduce transmission at home and in places like schools and universities.

"Therefore, while we welcome the fact that more than 68% of people older than 60 years have been vaccinated, we are concerned that only 35% of people between 18 and 35 years have been vaccinated," Ramaphosa said.

He said it was essential that more people aged 18 to 35 were vaccinated.

"If we are all vaccinated, we can turn our energy, resources and effort to rebuilding our economy and creating much-needed jobs."