Eswatini is the third country in the African region to curb the ongoing pandemic by limiting alcohol availability.
South Africa implemented an effective alcohol sales ban early on in the pandemic which was lifted from June 1st then re-established from July 13, 2020. And Kenya is implementing their on-trade alcohol sales ban and other policies regarding alcohol availability since July, 2020.
The Prime Minister of Eswatini announced the alcohol sales ban in the country citing that alcohol consumption was found to be among the leading causes of the virus’ spread following a recently eased lockdown.
Over the past two weeks we have seen an unfortunate surge of positive cases in the country, which suggests that we have to review some of the restrictions lifted to avoid overwhelming our health system,” said Prime Minister Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, as per AA.com.
Ambrose Mandvulo Dlamini, Prime Minister, Eswatini
Following the South African example of successfully banning alcohol sales to curb the virus spread and reduce the healthcare system strain, Eswatini’s approach is likely to be effective, specifically also due to its lower healthcare system capacity even in normal times.
