South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has deployed 2,122 troops to support other state actors in fighting against the coronavirus pandemic whose new surge has claimed over 38,000 lives since the outbreak in March last year, APA learnt on Wednesday.
The four-week deployment will end on 31 January 2021 at a cost of US$6.4 million, the president said in a formal letter sent to parliament.
Ramaphosa told Parliament that he had deployed the troops “to preserve life, health or property in emergency or humanitarian relief operations in support of other government departments and in cooperation with the South African Police Service to prevent crime and enforce restrictions under the adjusted Level 3 lockdown regulations.”
This is the country’s fourth deployment of troops since the outbreak – following the initial deployment of 2,820 troops on 25 March 2020; 76,000 soldiers deployed on 21 April 2020; and 20,000 men and women deployed on 30 June 2020, records showed.
South Africa’s Covid-19 cases have risen to 1,356,716 after 9,780 patients were confirmed to have contracted the virus on Tuesday, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said
With 839 additional deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the death toll has reached 38,288 since the March 2020 outbreak, Mkhize said.
NM/jn/APA