President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Thursday evening update South Africans on the country’s measures to contain the Covid-19 pandemic following a special Cabinet sitting, his office said.

The Cabinet sitting “considered recommendations of the National Coronavirus Command Council” (NCCC), the presidency said, adding that Ramaphosa’s address would be televised at 8pm.

The NCCC met on Wednesday morning to mull over the prospect of new restrictions to contain a spike in new Covid-19 infections in so-called hot spots around South Africa.

The NCCC, set up to steer the country’s response to the pandemic, is understood to favour curbs on alcohol sales and trading hours for bars and restaurants in regions where transmission rates have flared.

It was not clear at this stage whether an evening curfew could be on the cards, in terms of the council’s recommendations.

The NCCC’s advice would be tabled at a Cabinet meeting during the course of the day.

Three weeks ago, there were reports that Ramaphosa may return South Africa to some form of lockdown, but all economic indications have been for months that the country could not afford this.

Instead, Ramaphosa implored South Africans to be cautious and, in a nod to economic necessity, removed the remaining curbs on alcohol trade.

But since then there have been persistent calls for the current level 1 restrictions to be tightened to prevent an increase in infections in areas like the Eastern Cape from spiralling into a second wave spreading throughout South Africa.

The Nelson Mandela Bay metro by the end of last week accounted for roughly half of all new infections in the country.