Some 2,289 suspects have been arrested in South Africa for failing to comply with the 21-day lockdown regulations now in their first week of operation, Police Minister Bheki Cele said on Thursday.
Urging everyone to observe and comply with the regulations during a media briefing in Pretoria, Cele told reporters that “the public must stick with the rules so that we are not forced to enforce the law.”
“From the 27 (March 2020) until midnight of Wednesday, some 2,289 people have been arrested for breaking those coronavirus pandemic lockdown regulations – especially alcohol and traffic offenses.”
On Thursday South Africa, with five deaths from the virus and 1,462 confirmed cases of the disease, marked day seven of the 21-day national lockdown which President Cyril Ramaphosa announced last month.
Cele said 24,389 law enforcers, made up of the police and troops, have been deployed to enforce the regulations nationwide.
The lockdown’s objective is to stop the outbreak in its track so that life could return to normalcy, Cele said.
NM/jn/APA