He has, however, reiterated that no decision has yet been made on the matter.

That's despite reports that alcohol and tobacco products will only be sold when the lockdown moves to Level 1.

"If you lift the ban on alcohol, this statement must not be seen as the direction we are going to take, if you lift a ban on alcohol immediately there would be 5,000 occupied beds in these sensitive areas of health," Cele said.

"Alcohol should be enjoyed responsibly. We don’t have a problem with those but we have a problem the moment it begins to interfere with the rights of other people."

Cele said during a briefing that cross-border smuggling of alcohol and cigarettes have spiked.

Nearly a quarter of a million people have been charged for breaching the lockdown regulations.

Almost 230,000 were charged mainly for violating alcohol and cigarette bans as well as for illegal gatherings and failing to stay at home.

eNCA