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· South Africa moved to level -2 lockout riding on the back of a drop in the rate of new confirmed coronavirus cases
· The new lockdown will remove nearly all restrictions on economic activities, including the hospitality industry
· The other salient features of the lockdown will be permitting -provincial travel
· International travel restrictions will continue as also ban on gathering of more than 50 people
South Africa moved to level -2 lockout riding on the back of a drop in the rate of new confirmed coronavirus cases. President Cyril Ramaphosa said the number of new confirmed cases had dropped over the past three weeks from a peak of over 12,000 a day to an average of around 5,000 a day over the past week. He was addressing the nation on the present state of the pandemic and the efforts being made by the government to restore normalcy in the economy. The country is now placed on level -2 alerts, which had come into effect from the midnight of Monday.
The new lockdown will remove nearly all restrictions on economic activities, including the hospitality industry. The other salient features of the lockdown will be permitting -provincial travel. However, international travel restrictions will continue and also ban the gathering of more than 50 people. The much criticized ban on cigarettes will also be lifted. Alcohol sales will be allowed in a limited way. South Africa has the world’s fifth-largest virus caseload with more than 583,000 and more than 11,600 confirmed deaths as on last Saturday.
There is a world-wide interest how South Africa will perform economically after the lifting of lockdown since the country is upfront with a severe economic slowdown, which can be traced to 2009, the financial meltdown days. The country has not come out of the recessionary trail and the core industries along with ancillary sectors were showing a sluggish growth trend. Rating agencies have been downgrading the country because of its poor macroeconomic fundamentals.
