The next three weeks are cancelled, president Cyril Ramaphosa has confirmed, and citizens who are not employed in health and emergency, security, or other important services are expected to stay at home from midnight on Thursday.
With local COVID-19 coronavirus infections now exceeding 400, government has made the unprecedented decision establish a lockdown, restricting the country’s population to their homes to minimise transmission rates.
President #Ramaphosa: As a consequence, the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to enforce a nation-wide lockdown for 21 DAYS with effect from midnight on Thursday 26 March.
#COVID19 #CoronaVirusSA pic.twitter.com/spxfeqwBWp— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) March 23, 2020
Exemptions to this restriction include people working in:
- Health and emergency services
- Security services
- Food production
- Transport of goods
- Grocery shops and supermarkets, pharmacies, banks, and petrol stations
Everybody else will be subject to “controlled” excursions from home for basic necessities or medical care, possibly under police or military supervision (no more info about this for now).
Remember that the objective is to disrupt rapid transmission of COVID-19, and prevent our limited medical facilities from becoming overwhelmed at one time. Because COVID-19 has an incubation period of up to two weeks, it is possible to be infected without immediate symptoms – but remain contagious to those people around you.
[UPDATE] What time is midnight? That’s a subject of some debate. In terms of our lockdown, however, it’s from 23:59 on Thursday.
Be safe. ❤