Shoppers queue to buy alcohol outside a liquor store as South Africa loosens a nationwide lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus in Cape Town, South Africa, August 18, 2020. /REUTERS
South Africa, is slowly emerging from one of the world's strictest COVID-19 lockdowns. In March this year, the government sealed national borders, restricted public transport use and in a particularly controversial move banned the sale of alcohol for several weeks.
Government officials believe the drinking restrictions significantly reduced pressure on the country's hospitals and have hailed the results as a policy success.
Yet the long-term impact of such strict measures is unclear. Elsewhere, the country's alcohol trade bodies say the industry has been devastated by the ban with workers in the sector taking to the streets to protest the ban in July.
Temporary drinking restrictions are back in vogue worldwide, thanks to coronavirus. Physical distancing has also dramatically altered alcohol consumption habits, though researchers believe it's too early to say whether the impact will be permanent.
South Africa isn't alone in imposing restrictions; Thailand and India both introduced similar bans earlier in the year, while Kenya banned the sale of liquor in restaurants for 30 days this summer.
According to CNN, restrictions on outdoor drinking are in place in Spain's Catalonia region and in the UK the city of Manchester banned outdoor drinking over the holiday weekend from August 29-31.
South Africa's initial ban was in place from the end of March until June 1, but President Cyril Ramaphosa's government reimposed the restrictions on July 12, citing the need to ease pressure on hospitals from drinking-related admissions.
"It is vital that we do not burden our clinics and hospitals with alcohol-related injuries that could have been avoided," Ramaphosa said that time.
"We have therefore decided that in order to conserve hospital capacity, the sale, dispensing and distribution of alcohol will be suspended with immediate effect."
Governments and local officials have justified such restrictions through pragmatism -- pubs and nightclubs have been repeatedly linked to outbreaks, as have many social spaces where distancing is difficult.
Experts are divided over whether such temporary restrictions help people develop a healthier relationship with alcohol.
(With input from the agencies)