Bo-Kaap residents have put their community on “lockdown” from tourists following the coronavirus outbreak and have asked tourists to stay out of their “vulnerable” community.
The announcement was made by the Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association who issued an open letter communicating their request.
This, after South Africa’s Covid-19 infections on Wednesday broke the 100 mark, with a total of 116 positive cases confirmed.
“As Bo-Kaap is a tourist destination we are more prone than other areas to get into contact with tourists from high risk countries,” said the association.
“We therefore place the tourism industry and government on notice that Bo-Kaap will be on lockdown and no tourist will be allowed in our area.”
Association chairperson, Osman Shaboodien, says after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a State of National Disaster in South Africa on Sunday, they started to consult residents and businesses in the community.
“We canvassed opinions and many people agreed that we need to put our community first.
“The reality is that many European tourists visit Bo-Kaap each day and the majority of the people in our community are pensioners,” he said.
“Many of them are sick and have compromised immune systems.
“So we issued the letter as an appeal to tour guides and tourism operators to consider our community and not visit us at this stage.
“We don’t have a way of enforcing it, but we will assess the situation after Easter as the president said. We are asking tourists to come back when they are healthy.”
CLOSE: Osman Shaboodien
Nearly all of South Africa’s Covid-19 cases have travelled in Europe before coming home.
Meanwhile, two other popular tourist spots, the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway and the Two Oceans Aquarium, have shut their doors yesterday due to the virus outbreak.
Wahida Parker, managing director for the cableway, says they will remain closed until the Easter weekend.
“As the leading attraction in Africa and the Indian Ocean, we believe that it is our duty to act responsibly as a tourism operator under these extreme circumstances,” she says.
We value the health&safety of our visitors &staff above all else and,in light of the #CoronaVirusSA, we have taken the decision to close our operations from Wednesday 18 March 2020 until after the Easter weekend.
You can read more about this here : https://t.co/ht1KJrv61G pic.twitter.com/Ydoojiy6lk
— Table Mountain C/Way (@TableMountainCa) March 18, 2020
In a statement, the Two Oceans Aquarium says they will temporarily close their doors until 14 April.
“This will be the first time the Two Oceans Aquarium has closed since Christmas Day in 1996, but we feel that this is a necessary precautionary measure.”
Hi friends, fans, members and supporters: Due to the seriousness of the #COVID19 pandemic, and in line with the recommendations of @PresidencyZA, we have made the difficult decision to temporarily close our doors to the public from 18 March to 14 April 2020. #COVID19SouthAfrica pic.twitter.com/MGRauyFsYS
— Two Oceans Aquarium (@2OceansAquarium) March 17, 2020