Industry bodies will have an opportunity to make submissions on the phased reopening of the economy before new regulations are gazetted, according to President Cyril Ramaphosa.
He announced a five-level ‘risk-adjusted strategy’ to guide the gradual easing of lockdown restrictions from next Friday, when the country will move from the present level five lockdown to a marginally relaxed level four.
Level four meant ‘some activity can be allowed to resume subject to extreme precautions required to limit community transmission and outbreaks’. The ban on crowd events would remain, among other restrictions.
Level three involves easing restrictions on work and social activities; level two is further easing, but with social distancing and discouraging gatherings still being enforced, and level one, further easing with more normal activity resuming.
Ramaphosa said the government had ‘undertaken a detailed exercise to classify the different parts of the economy according to the risk of transmission in that sector, the expected impact of the lockdown, the economic contribution of the sector and the effect on livelihoods’.
Ministers would provide a detailed briefing on the classification of industries ‘and how each is affected at each level’. All industry bodies would be given ‘an opportunity to consider these details and, should they wish, to make submissions before new regulations are gazetted’
From next Friday, some businesses would be allowed ‘to resume operations under specific conditions’.
‘Every business will have to adhere to detailed health and safety protocols to protect their employees, and workplace plans will be put in place to enable disease surveillance and prevent the spread of infection.
‘All businesses that are permitted to resume operations will be required to do so in a phased manner, first preparing the workplace for a return to operations, followed by the return of the workforce in batches of no more than one-third.
‘In some cases, a sector will not be able to return to full production during Level 4 while the risk of infection remains high.’
Details would be ‘spelt out next week following a final round of consultations’.
The announcements came as positive cases rose by 318 to 3 953, with 10 more deaths taking the toll to 75.
Earlier yesterday, the PSG Group, which owns, among others, Capitec, Curro and private higher education group, Stadio, said South Africa did not ‘have the luxury to remain in lockdown’.
PSG CEO Piet Mouton told Fin24: ‘I just think we’ve got to go back to a normal course of action as quickly as possible. We have written a letter to government stating that we don’t have the luxury to remain in lockdown.’
The Group said in the letter: ‘To remain quiet during this crisis is unfortunately no longer an option for us and silence will certainly not be of benefit to anyone.’ It warned: ‘The longer it takes to come out of the lockdown, the worse it will be going forward for every citizen of South Africa.’
In other virus-related news
- AFP reported that more than 2 636 740 declared cases had been registered in 193 countries and territories since the epidemic first emerged in China in December;
- United States unemployment claims have soared to 26.4 million since mid-March;
- China announced it would donate another $30 million to the World Health Organisation (WHO);
- Singapore handed down its first prison sentence for a virus-related offence, jailing a man for six weeks after he breached quarantine orders. Alan Tham Xiang Sheng was ordered to stay at home for 14 days after returning to Singapore from overseas in March, as part of measures aimed at halting the spread of the virus. But he went out to a food court to enjoy a pork rib soup dish, according to local media, and also visited several other places;
- Peru said it would release under amnesty about 3 000 prisoners, including those who were particularly vulnerable to Covid-19, after the deaths of at least seven inmates and infections among more than 40 in Peru’s overcrowded prisons, along with 26 wardens; and
- The Guardian reported that French researchers were planning to test nicotine patches on coronavirus patients and frontline health workers after a study suggested smokers may be much less at risk of contracting the virus. The study at a major Paris hospital suggested a substance in tobacco – possibly nicotine – might be stopping patients who smoke from catching Covid-19. Clinical trials of nicotine patches were awaiting official approval. The study found of those admitted to hospital, whose median age was 65, only 4.4% were regular smokers. Figures from Paris hospitals showed that of 11 000 patients admitted with Covid-19, 8.5% were smokers. The total number of smokers in France is estimated at around 25.4%. The report said the results confirm a Chinese study published in March in the New England Journal of Medicine suggesting 12.6% of 1 000 people infected with the virus were smokers while the number of smokers in China is around 28%.