The National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to enforce a nation-wide lockdown for 21 days with effect from midnight on Thursday 26 March.

The nation-wide lockdown will be enacted in terms of the Disaster Management Act and will entail the following:

– From midnight on Thursday 26 March until midnight on Thursday 16 April, all South Africans will have to stay at home.

– The categories of people who will be exempted from this lockdown are the following: 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.

This is a decisive measure to save millions of South Africans from infection and save the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.