SA to ease lockdown from May 1
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africans can expect for lockdown regulations to be eased from next month.
Ramaphosa addressed the nation on Thursday evening on the government’s plans to ease regulations that have been put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19.
Following extensive deliberation with the national command council, Ramaphosa said the country could not afford an abrupt end to the national lockdown.
“Yet, while a nationwide lockdown is probably the most effective means to contain the spread of the coronavirus, it cannot be sustained indefinitely.
“Our people need to eat. They need to earn a living. Companies need to be able to produce and to trade, they need to generate revenue and keep their employees in employment.”
He added: “We have accordingly decided that beyond Thursday 30 April, we should begin a gradual and phased recovery of economic activity.”
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Government will follow a staggered approach using 5 levels where the hard lockdown is level 5 and the resumption of all activity is level 1.
“The National Coronavirus Command Council met earlier today and determined that the national coronavirus alert level will be lowered from level 5 to level 4 with effect from Friday the 1st of May,” Ramaphosa said.
“This means that some activity will be allowed to resume subject to extreme precautions to limit community transmission and outbreaks.
“Some businesses will be allowed to resume operations under specific conditions.”
The various ministers are expected to detail the industries that can open their doors on Friday.
Listen to Ramaphosa: