Addressing the nation on Thursday, Ramaphosa announced a
two-week extension of the national lockdown in an effort to curb the spread of
the coronavirus.
“This evening, I stand before you to ask you to endure even
longer. I have to ask you to make even greater sacrifices so that our country
may survive this crisis and so that tens of thousands of lives may be saved.
After careful consideration of the available evidence, the national coronavirus
command council has decided to extend the nationwide lockdown by a further two
weeks beyond the initial 21 days. This means that most of the existing lockdown
measures will remain in force until the end of April,” Ramaphosa said.
He said while evidence showed that the lockdown had helped
curb the spread of the virus, the struggle against the coronavirus was far from
over.
“We did not take this decision to extend the lockdown
lightly. As your president, I am mindful of the great and heavy burden this
will impose on you. I am keenly aware of the impact this will have on our
economy.
“But I know, as you do, that unless we take these difficult
measures now, unless we hold this course for a little longer, the coronavirus
pandemic will ultimately come to our country,” Ramaphosa said.
The president said SA’s priority must remain to slow down
the spread of the virus and prevent a massive loss of life.
“Simply put, if we end the lockdown too soon or too
abruptly, we risk a massive and uncontrollable resurgence of the disease. We
risk reversing the gains we have made over the last few weeks, and rendering
meaningless the great sacrifices we have all made,” Ramaphosa said.
On Thursday, there were 1,934 confirmed cased of Covid-19
in the country.
Ramaphosa said the extension of the lockdown would be used
to ramp up public health interventions.
He said he had a three-pronged strategy to deal with the
pandemic which consists, firstly, of an intensified public health response to
slow down and reduce infections.
The second component was a “comprehensive package of
economic support measures to assist businesses and individuals affected by the
pandemic”, while the third was a programme of increased social support to
“protect poor and vulnerable households”.
Ramaphosa noted in his address that while government works
to save lives, they will have to work to prevent the economy from collapsing
and “saving our people from hunger”.
“We are determined to pursue a path that both saves lives
and protects livelihoods,” Ramaphosa said. Times
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