The DA has welcomed government’s decision to enforce a 21-day nation-wide lockdown, as fears heightened that the global pandemic could infect millions of South Africans and collapse the country’s already ailing economy.
DA leader John Steenhuisen said the Covid-19 epidemic was the biggest threat the country faced in its 26 years of democracy.
“These measures are of critical importance in our efforts to combat the spread of the coronavirus through our communities and contain, as much as is possible, future COVID-19 infections,” he said.
“We also welcome the announcement of a Solidarity Fund to support the vulnerable in the wake of this crisis, and thank the patriotic South Africans who made extremely generous donations,” he added.
The SA National Defence Force (SANDF) has been deployed to help the SAPS to ensure that the measures that Ramaphosa announced a fully implemented as the spread of the pandemic battered the country’s already ailing economy, with the rand plummeting.
The additional measures were being implemented under the Disaster Management Act.
A lockdown means that from midnight Thursday until midnight Thursday, 16 April, all South Africans will have to stay at home.
Those that are exempted from the lockdown:
– health workers in the public and private sectors
– emergency personnel
– those in security services – such as the police, traffic officers, military medical personnel, soldiers – and other persons necessary for our response to the pandemic.
– those involved in the production, distribution and supply of food and basic goods, essential banking services
-those in the maintenance of power, water and telecommunications services, laboratory services, and the provision of medical and hygiene products.
Ramaphosa said individuals will not be allowed to leave their homes except under “strictly controlled” circumstances such as seeking medical care, buy food and medicine, and to collect a social grant.
Ramaphosa said the coronavirus cases had increased six-fold in the last eight days, moving from 61 on Sunday to 402 as at the time of his speech.
Meanwhile, the SA Communist Party has called on Ramaphosa to take over the private sector health system.
“In order to win the war against the Covid-19 pandemic and protect the majority of our people, the SACP is therefore calling upon government to assert decisive public control of private hospitals and other private health care facilities as required by the circumstances,” SACP general secretary Blade Nzimande said in a statement.
“The private hospital sector has over 40 000 beds, a number of which are critical and intensive care unit beds. These facilities, in this time of war against the deadly disease, cannot be reserved for the paying patients, but should be available to all people who are affected and need treatment for Covid-19. Private health care providers must provide Covid-19 health care without demanding payment.”
