South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday prolonged by” days a national lockdown aimed at stemming coronavirus, saying the struggle was “far from over” as infections rose to 1,934.
After careful consideration of the available evidence, the national coronavirus command council has decided to extend the nationwide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days, amaphosa announced in a televised address.
“If we end the lockdown too soon or too abruptly, we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease,” Ramaphosa warned.
The president added that while it was too early to make a “definitive analysis” of the pandemic in South Africa, there was evidence to suggest the measures had been effective.
“In the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in new cases was around 42 percent,” Ramaphosa said.
“Since the start of the lockdown, the average daily increase has been around four percent.”
But he warned against complacency and said it was not the time to “relax”.
South Africa is the worst-affected country on the continent, followed by Algeria with 1,666 cases confirmed so far.
The number of deaths remains relatively low, with 18 fatalities recorded to date.
Ramaphosa said he recognised the “great sacrifices” made by citizens and vowed to adjust lockdown measures so as to enable “a phased recovery of the economy”.
Despite a recession and huge public debt, Africa’s most advanced economy has set aside millions of rands for businesses and workers affected by the shutdown.
The president and all his ministers will now also take a one-third salary cut for three months and donate the money to the country’s virus solidarity fund.
Discover more from EkoHotBlog
Subscribe to get the latest posts to your email.
Advertise or Publish a Story on EkoHot Blog:
Kindly contact us at [email protected]. Breaking stories should be sent to the above email and substantiated with pictorial evidence.
Citizen journalists will receive a token as data incentive.
Call or Whatsapp: 0803 561 7233, 0703 414 5611