South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday said the country will start getting back to normal as the government will allow a partial reopening of the economy on May 1, reported Reuters.
The country has recorded around 3,953 confirmed cases so far including 75 deaths with 143,570 people tested for the virus.
In a televised address to the nation, President Ramaphosa said Ramaphosa said the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to put the country from the maximum disease-alert level 5 to a national level 4 from next Friday, allowing the phased reopening of some businesses and industries subject to strict precautions.
He said International borders will remain closed while travel will be only allowed for essential services. Social distancing rules will continue to be in place, and a government monitoring system would determine which sectors would be allowed to operate.
“Beyond the 30th of April, we will begin a phased and gradual return to economic activity,” the South African President said.
However, he cautioned that the South Africa government will only take measured action now as not much is currently known about the manner and the spread of the virus among the population.
“We cannot take action today that we will deeply regret tomorrow, we must avoid a rushed reopening that could risk a spread which would need to be followed by another hard lockdown,” the South African president said.
President Ramaphosa said the industries that will be allowed to resume work from Friday will need to adhere to health and safety protocols. He added that companies will have to develop strict plans for the return of their workforce – including a limitation on the amount of the workforce that is allowed to return. He said that all staff that can work remotely must be allowed to do so.
He said that the government ministers will provide more information on the opening of schools and other institutions at a later date.
