President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a national lockdown for 21 days. Addressing South Africans on government’s measures to curb the spread of coronavirus, Ramaphosa says the lockdown will start on midnight Thursday, 26 March till 16 April.
“This is a decisive measure to save the lives of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of our people. While this measure will have a considerable impact on people’s livelihoods, on the life of our society and our economy, the human cost of delaying this action will be far, far greater”, he said.
South Africa currently has 402 numbers of cases with Gauteng having the largest number of cases followed by Western Cape.
Ramaphosa says during the lockdown, all South Africans, except for essential personnel will have to stay at home.
“The categories of people who will be exempted from this lockdown are the following: health workers in the public and private sectors, emergency personnel, those who are in security services such as the police, traffic officers, military medical personnel, soldiers and other persons necessary for our response to the pandemic.
“It will also include those who are in production, distribution and supply of food and basic goods, essential banking services, the maintenance of power, water and telecommunications”, he stated
