President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday night announced a relaxation of the national coronavirus lockdown which has been in place since late March.
From May 1 the stringent lockdown regulations, which meant that only essential workers were allowed to leave their homes, will now be relaxed.
April 30 will be the last day of the strict lockdown measures and from May 1, South Africa will enter into a partial lockdown on Level 4.
Ramaphosa said South Africa had undertaken strict lockdown measures to save tens of thousands of lives in the country.
He said there was clear evidence that the lockdown was working, and that it slowed the progression of the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa, but the country had to get working again.
He also mentioned that the World Health Organisation had commended South Africa for its swift action against the spread of the virus, as the country relied on scientific data and advice to make the decision.
"Lockdown cannot be sustained indefinitely, our people need to eat," said Ramaphosa.
The president said when the lockdown is lifted on Friday, May 1, it would resume on Level 4 of the country's risk adjusted strategy.
When the full nationwide lockdown ends, South Africa will transition to a system of alert levels to ensure we can ease restrictions as safely as possible. These will be regularly reviewed based on the rates of infection across the country. #COVID19 #CoronaVirusSA pic.twitter.com/GMHZwtcmd6
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) April 23, 2020
Ramaphosa warned that there was still much they did not know about the virus in South Africa and that people would still be required to adhere to social distancing and good hygiene practise.
He said the abrupt lifting of restrictions could cause chaos and they were averting that by using a staggered approach to return to normality.
Level 5 - Most drastic measures
Level 4 - Some activity allowed to resume
Level 3 - Easing restrictions on work and social
Level 2 - Physical distancing
Level 1 - Most normal activity can resume with precaution and health guidelines