President Ramaphosa addressed the nation tonight after a shocking 24 days of his previous speech.
The Coronavirus numbers as of late stand at: 80,412 confirmed, 44,331 people and 1,674 deaths. Currently there are 34,407 active cases in South Africa.
The President spoke about doubling time. Doubling time is the number of days it takes for cases to increase. He said:
“In the three weeks prior to the implementation of the nation-wide lockdown, the number of infections was doubling every 2 days.
During level 5 of the lockdown, this doubling time increased to 15 days, which meant that it took much longer for the virus to spread.
The doubling time has been at around 12 days during levels 4 and 3.”
Even though the curve started to flatten, in the last few weeks, President Ramaphosa said that cases have been rising quickly.
It is clear that the government realised that many people’s livelihoods are at stake. He said that there were businesses that have not earned revenue and individuals who have not earned a salary in and 80 days.
READ ALSO: President Ramaphosa addresses the nation on Corona virus lockdown
The President announced the ease on restrictions for the following:
- Restaurants for ‘sit-down’ meals
- Accredited and licensed accommodation, with the exception of home sharing accommodation like AirBnB
- Conferences and meetings for business purposes and in line with restrictions on public gatherings.
- Cinemas and theatres, to be aligned to limitations on the gathering of people
- Casinos
- Personal care services, including hairdressers and beauty services
- Non-contact sports such as golf, tennis, cricket and others. Contact sports will be allowed only for training and modified activities with restricted use of facilities.
The dates when these services may resume will be announced soon the President added.
The President’s speech continued vigorously against Gender Based Violence. He said that in the last few weeks about 21 women have been murdered.
“These rapists and killers walk among us. They are in our communities.
They are our fathers, our brothers, our sons and our friends; violent men with utterly no regard for the sanctity of human life.”
He also mentioned that the suspects in these cases have bail applications this week and he hopes that the “courts will send the strongest of signals that such violence has no place in society.”
He continued: “In particular, we need to examine the effect of alcohol abuse not only on levels of violence, but also on road accidents and reckless behaviour.”
“But we will also need to look at further, more drastic measures to curb the abuse of alcohol. Ultimately, the success of our fight to end gender-based violence will require the involvement and support of our entire society.”
The President ended his speech with: “But if there is anything that we have learnt in the last 100 days, it is that we are a resilient, resourceful and determined people.”
