South Africa will be locked down for 21 days

The country will be locked down for 21 days to help limit the spread of the novel Coronavirus, starting from Thursday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a long-awaited address to the nation Monday night.

He said immediate, swift and extraordinary action was required to contain the spread of the disease as a lack of action will lead to devastating consequences. The lockdown will start on Thursday 26 March at midnight, and last until midnight 16 April.

All South Africans will have to stay at home, with certain exceptions for, among others, health workers, security workers and food producers and distributors. All essential services such as banking and food production will continue. A full list of important workers who may continue to work will be released soon.

Ramaphosa said individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes, except in exceptional cases, such as to buy food, medicine or to collect social grants. Accommodation will be provided to homeless people.

Phramacies, banks and supermarkets are among the shops that will be allowed to stay open. He said a full list of important and essential businesses allowed to stay open will also be released.

In his address he announced the foundation of a solidarity fund to help vulnerable South Africans, as well as financial aid following donations by the Rupert and Oppenheimer families of a billion rand each to help small businesses, tax subsidies to help workers and various other measures to help vulnerable firms in the country.

News24 reported Monday afternoon that the army had started mobilising and moved from a “peacetime” footing to a “wartime” footing. This deployment has now been confirmed by Ramaphosa, as the army will be required to ensure that people follow the new regulations, in cooperation with the police.

The NWU has a dedicated Coronavirus website where students can follow the latest university-related updates. The university announced last week that the recess will last until 14 April, with online teaching commencing on 15 April.

The government also has a data-free website with the latest updates. Readers of threestreamsmedia are encouraged to use the government’s official website to verify all Coronavirus news, as there has been an increase in the distribution of fake news and disinformation.

On Monday night there were more than 366 000 cases of Covid-19 around the world, and more than 16 000 people have died.