Photo by Gallo Images / Ziyaad Douglas

Tighter lockdown restrictions loom for these areas

Cape Town and Johannesburg have been identified among areas that could soon revert to hard lockdown.

by Siviwe Breakfast

09-05-2020 16:42

in News

Photo by Gallo Images / Ziyaad Douglas

Areas identified as COVID-19 hotspots could soon be back under hard lockdown, according to national Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.

South Africa eased the social distancing restrictions to Level 4 at the beginning of the month, reopening certain sections of the economy after over a month of hard lockdown.

Stricter lockdown looms in the Western Cape

The number of confirmed cases of the virus has, however, continued to climb, with the Western Cape triggering more concern as it accounts for over 50% of the known infections, with the death toll also more than half the other provinces combined.

In a briefing held on Saturday, Mkhize said certain areas are being considered for tighter restrictions in order to contain the rapid spread of the virus.

The Western Cape was singled out, after recording 4 809 cases and 95 deaths as of Saturday, which is more than half South Africa’s 9420 infections and 186 deaths.

The province also reported seven of the eight new deaths recorded in the last 24 hours.

“We are going to look at what additional support the province needs. We will be reinforcing the team. We will deploy the Cuban specialists, as well as additional medical practitioners.”
Dr Zweli Mkhize

These hotspots are set for tighter lockdown

Other provinces to have reported a high number of infections are Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Eastern Cape. All three have crossed the four-figure mark.

During his briefing, Mkhize mentioned certain regions in each of these areas that will need to implement tighter restrictions.

The areas identified are;