Four airports – in Johannesburg, Cape Town, and Durban – will reopen under strict conditions for limited domestic flights tomorrow as South Africa moves to level 3.
Only passengers will be allowed inside airports, and must must produce proof of reasons for their travel, with no recreational or tourism flying permitted.
The tourism sector is also being allowed to gradually open, with hotels, game reserves, hiking spots and hunting set to resume tomorrow, but with conditions. News24 reported that the Tourism Department had pledged additional financial aid to struggling tourism enterprises.
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula announced the curfews on public transport would be lifted tomorrow.
Sports, Arts and Culture Minister Nathi Mthethwa said contact sports such as soccer and rugby could resume training from tomorrow. No date has been set for the resumption of matches. Non-contact sports, including cricket, athletics, swimming, tennis and golf, have been given the go-ahead to resume training and matches.
News24 reported that there was still some confusion about whether casual golf could begin again.
Mthethwa also announced that some 1 500 artists would receive relief funding from a R200 million fund the department had set up.
Cases in South Africa rose by 1 727 to 30 967 (with 16 116 recoveries), and the death toll rose to 643.
In other virus-related news
- The European Union has appealed to President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to cut America’s ties with the World Health Organization (WHO). It was also reported that a leading senator from Trump’s own political party and US-based epidemiologists had also objected. The United Kingdom said it had ‘no plans’ to withdraw funding from the WHO. The WHO said fighting the coronavirus was a ‘global challenge’ and that it had an ‘important role to play in leading the international health response’;
- Brazil, the epicentre of the outbreak in Latin America, recorded 26 928 confirmed new cases, bringing the total to 465 166. It recorded another 1 124 deaths in 24 hours. Brazil’s death toll is now 27 878, higher than Spain. Experts warned that the number of cases could actually be 15 times higher than the confirmed figure, because there had been no widespread testing; and
- India recorded its biggest single-day jump in cases, with nearly 8 000 new infections and 265 deaths, but the Indian government announced plans to further relax its strict national lockdown.