Gungubele briefed the media on the outcomes of this week’s cabinet meeting held on Wednesday.

He reiterated that cabinet wants all unvaccinated people, especially adults and those at high risk of developing severe illness, to inoculate as soon as possible.

The Department of Health recently acknowledged that despite the benefits that could come with a vaccine passport, it is not an easy policy to implement.

Gungubele said President Cyril Ramaphosa directed the cabinet to probe all possible ideas that could help open the country, including vaccine passports.

“It is quite an attractive matter because those of us who love football, when you watch stadiums in Europe full and hearing about measures Europe is engaging on… the president has actually directed the cabinet to look at all possible innovations that can actually assist in allowing more activities in the country so the issue of vaccine passport is one of the innovative ideas we are going to look at.”

Gungubele says the extension of lockdown restrictions will depend on the number of infections.

“Lockdown whether it is going to be eased or not it depends a lot on the rate of infections, the degrees at which facilities are coping and mainly on South Africans sticking with non-pharmaceutical measures.

And the family meeting will depend on what comes out on the National Coronavirus Command Council meeting.”