South Africa, in its seventh week of a coronavirus pandemic lockdown that has killed 219 people in the country, is expected to move to the next stage of easing the strict regulations in June, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said.
The president said this Wednesday night during a televised broadcast to brief the nation since his government locked the country down on 27 March on its way to accumulating the current 12,074 confirmed cases of the disease.
The lockdown was eased from Level 5 to Level 4 two weeks ago, thereby allowing 1.5 million workers in the mining and agriculture sectors to return to work while the rest of the population remained home as per regulations.
During the address, the president said he hoped that most of the country would move to the Level 3 stage in June by easing the restrictions further as part of the government’s efforts to contain Covid-19 which broke out in the country in the first week of March.
“Without the lockdown, the number of coronavirus infections would have soared uncontrollably. Our health facilities would have been overwhelmed, and many thousands more South Africans would have died,” Ramaphosa said.
He said evidence is showing that the nationwide lockdown provided the country “with valuable time to prepare our health system and helped us to slow the rate of Covid-19 transmission down.”
“This vital advantage must now be sustained,” the president said.
He noted that the US$600 million in temporary relief funds his government allocated last month to small-scale firms and workers as temporary economic measures would be available for six months.
“We will spare no effort to ensure that our most vulnerable citizens are supported and protected during this difficult time,” he said.
Ramaphosa added that he would be making consultations with the leadership of the country’s nine provinces before proceeding to Level 3 of easing the restrictions.
NM/jn/APA