President Cyril Ramaphosa announced five levels of coronavirus lockdown for the country and said they would be phased in gradually and when necessary.
Following President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that the country would move to level 4 lockdown on 1 May, citizens are gearing up for some relaxed regulations.
In his address on Thursday night, Ramaphosa said the current lockdown had been effective in slowing down the spread of the coronavirus.
He said the government would implement a risk-adjusted strategy through which it takes a deliberate and cautious approach to the easing of current lockdown restrictions.
“We have decided on this approach because there is still much that is unknown about the rate and manner of the spread of the virus within our population. The action we take now must therefore be measured and incremental.”
He announced five levels of the lockdown and said they would be phased in gradually and when necessary.
As part of this approach, there will be five coronavirus levels:
Level 5: Drastic measures are required to contain the spread of the virus to save lives.
Sectors permitted | Transport restrictions | Movement restrictions | |
Level 5: High virus spread, and/or low health system readiness | Only essential services | Bus services, taxi services, e-hailing and private motor vehicles may operate at restricted times, with limitations on vehicle capacity and stringent hygiene requirements | No inter-provincial movement of people, except for transportation of goods and exceptional circumstances (e.g.
funerals) |
Level 4: Some activity can be allowed to resume subject to extreme precautions required to limit community transmission and outbreaks.
Sectors permitted | Transport restrictions | Movement restrictions | |
Level 4: Moderate to high virus spread, with moderate readiness | All essential services, plus:
Food retail stores already permitted to be open permitted may sell full line of products within existing stock All agriculture (horticulture, export agriculture including wool and wine, floriculture and horticulture, and related processing) Forestry, pulp and paper Mining (open cast mines at 100% capacity, all other mines at 50%) All financial and professional services Global business services for export markets Postal and telecommunications services Fibre optic and IT services Formal waste recycling (glass, plastic, paper and metal) |
Bus services, taxi services, ehailing and private motor vehicles may operate at all times of the day, with limitations on vehicle capacity and stringent hygiene requirements | No inter-provincial movement of people,
except for transportation of goods and exceptional circumstances (e.g. funerals) |
Level 3: It involves the easing of some restrictions, including on work and social activities, to address a high risk of transmission.
Sectors permitted | Transport restrictions | Movement restrictions | |
Level 3: Moderate virus spread, with moderate readiness | Licensing and permitting services, deeds offices and other government services designated by
the Minister of Public Service and Administration Take-away restaurants and online food delivery Liquor retail within restricted hours Clothing retail Hardware stores Stationery, personal electronics and office equipment production and retail Books and educational products E-commerce and delivery services Clothing and textiles manufacturing (at 50% capacity) Automotive manufacturing Chemicals Bottling Cement and steel Machinery and equipment Global Business Services SANRAL construction and maintenance Transnet at 100% |
Bus services, taxi services, e-hailing and private motor vehicles may operate at all times of the day, with limitations on vehicle capacity and stringent hygiene requirements
Limited passenger rail restored, with stringent hygiene conditions in place Limited domestic air travel, with a restriction on the number of flights per day and authorisation based on the reason for travel |
No inter-provincial movement of people, except for transportation of goods and exceptional
circumstances (e.g. funerals) |
Level 2: It involves the further easing of restrictions, but the maintenance of physical distancing and restrictions on some leisure and social activities to prevent a resurgence of the virus.
Sectors permitted | Transport restrictions | Movement restrictions | |
Level 2: Moderate virus spread, with high readiness | Construction
All other retail All other manufacturing Mining (all mines at 100% capacity) All government services Installation, repairs and maintenance Domestic work and cleaning services Informal waste-pickers |
Domestic air travel restored
Car rental services restored |
Movement between
provinces at Level 1 and 2 restrictions |
Level 1: Most normal activity can resume, with precautions and health guidelines followed at all times.
Sectors permitted | Transport restrictions | Movement restrictions | |
Level 1: Low virus spread, high health system readiness | All sectors | All modes of transport, with stringent hygieneconditions in place | Interprovincial movement allowed, with restrictions on international travel |