President Cyril Ramaphosa last night announced a nationwide lockdown for 21 days and radical measures aimed at saving the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.
The lockdown will be effective at midnight on Thursday, 26 March and will end on 16 April.
Only patients, police and nurses will be allowed to leave home during the lockdown and citizens won’t be allowed to leave home unless it is to seek medical care, buy food, medicine and other supplies or collect a social grant.
“The human cost of delaying this will be far more disastrous,” Ramaphosa said. This comes as the spread of Covid-19 recorded a dramatic 40% spike on Monday, up to 402 cases.
Most businesses would be closed with the exception of those that are essential, including pharmacies, laboratories, banks, supermarkets, petrol stations among the few.
As the President announced this, the South African National Defence Force was preparing its troops which will be deployed into the streets to ensure people adhere to the lockdown rules.
Soldiers will be deployed on the streets to support the police, and international travellers who arrived in South Africa after 9 March from “high-risk” countries will be confined to their hotels until they have completed a 14-day period of quarantine.
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Government is also warning against panic buying and stockpiling as millions are expected to flock to stores over the next two days in a mad rush to get essential items.
“Regulations have been put in place to prohibit unjustified price hikes, to ensure shops maintain adequate stocks of basic goods and to prevent people from ‘panic buying’. It is important for all South Africans to understand that the supply of goods remains continuous and supply chains remain intact,” Ramaphosa said.
“Government has had discussions with manufacturers and distributors of basic necessities, who have indicated that there will be a continuous supply of these goods. There is, therefore, no need for stockpiling of any items.”
Highlighting the rationale behind the lockdown, he said: “The next few days are crucial. Without decisive action, the number of people infected will rapidly increase from a few hundred to tens of thousands and within a few weeks to hundreds of thousands. This is extremely dangerous for a population like ours with a large number of people with suppressed immunity because of HIV and TB and high levels of poverty and malnutrition.”
The following strict measures for the lockdown were announced:
* Individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes except under strictly controlled circumstances, such as: to seek medical care, buy food, medicine and other supplies, and collect a social grant.
* All shops and businesses will be closed, except for: pharmacies, laboratories, banks, essential financial and payment services, including the JSE, supermarkets, petrol stations and health care providers.