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President Cyril Ramaphosa (Photos: Sebabatso Mosamo / Sunday Times and GCIS)
This is President Cyril Ramaphosa’s full statement on the next step in closure and SA’s steps against the coronavirus pandemic.
My South African colleagues,
NEAR
This week, our country reached a sad moment in the progression of the coronavirus pandemic, as we recorded our death number 219 from the disease.
Every lost life is a tragedy.
These 219 people who died had families, dependents, friends and colleagues.
Their lives were cut short by a virus that has caused human and economic devastation worldwide.
By recording and reporting the daily numbers of new infections, deaths and recoveries, we can easily lose sight of the fact that we are dealing with human lives.
This coronavirus is affecting not only the health of our people, but also the ability of our people to earn a living, feed themselves and their families, learn and develop, and enjoy many of the basic freedoms that we take for granted daily.
Tonight, let’s keep in our thoughts and prayers all those who have been infected by the coronavirus, all those who have lost their loved ones, and also those who have endured, and continue to endure, great difficulties due to the pandemic.
Almost 7 weeks have passed since we implemented a national blockade.
During this time, South Africans have shown great courage, endurance and responsibility.
Once again, thank you for the sacrifices you have made so far.
I would like to say, as I said before, that despite its duration and severity, the blockade was absolutely necessary.
Without the blockade, the number of coronavirus infections would have skyrocketed, our health facilities would have been overwhelmed, and many thousands more South Africans would have died.
From the beginning, our response has been guided by the advice of world leading experts from our own country and from around the world.
We have also benefited from the guidance of the World Health Organization.
The experiences other nations have been through have also provided us with invaluable insights.
There have been several projections on the possible path the disease would have taken without our swift and decisive action.
As more data becomes available, these projections have been updated and refined.
The current best estimate is that, without the blockade and the other measures we have taken, at least 80,000 South Africans could have been infected by now.
And the death toll could have been at least eight times higher than it is.
As it stands, there are 219 people in South Africa who have succumbed to this disease.
In contrast, at a similar stage in the progression of the disease, the United States had recorded more than 22,000 deaths and the United Kingdom more than 19,000 deaths.
We must never forget that the objective of the blockade was to delay the spread of the virus and prevent a large increase in infections.
So far, we have been successful in the way that we, as South Africans, have responded to and dealt with this virus.
The percentage of cases identified from all the tests carried out, known as the positivity rate, has remained low and stable.
The level of confirmed infections in South Africa is around 181 people per million population.
In contrast, countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Singapore have between 2,400 and 4,600 cases of coronavirus per million people.
It is significant that of the 12,074 confirmed cases in South Africa, we have recorded 4,745 recoveries.
By delaying the spread of the disease, we have been able to strengthen the capacity of our health system and launch powerful public health programs to better manage the inevitable increase in infections.
We now have about 25,000 additional beds available for quarantine.
We have been able to obtain and produce substantial quantities of personal protective equipment for health workers, vital medical equipment, and other supplies.
Using the valuable time the lock gave us, we have managed to significantly expand our detection and testing program.
In total, our field workers have examined more than nine million people and we have conducted nearly 370,000 coronavirus tests.
This is the largest and most extensive public health mobilization in the history of our country.
It has been made possible through the hard work and dedication of thousands of community workers, nurses, doctors, and other health workers.
They made huge sacrifices to ensure the success of the blockade.
By responding to the call to stay home and be safe, you, the people of South Africa, have helped us save many lives.
As we have strengthened our public health response, we have introduced several vital measures to support businesses, workers, and households that have been severely affected by the blockade.
We have introduced an economic and social aid package worth more than R500 billion to help struggling businesses, save jobs, and provide some income to informal workers and poor households.
Since its inception, the Unemployment Insurance Fund’s special aid scheme Covid-19 has paid more than R11 billion to two million employees employed by more than 160,000 companies in distress.
This will help keep businesses afloat and save millions of jobs.
The various funds we established to support small businesses, including initiatives by the Small Business Development Department, the Department of Tourism, the Industrial Development Corporation, and the South African Future Trust, have provided direct assistance to more than 27,000 companies .
As of today, the R200 billion Covid-19 Loan Guarantee Plan, which is guaranteed by the government, has begun to process small and medium-sized business applications.
Earlier this month, the government paid an additional R5 billion to social subsidy recipients to help poor households at a time when other sources of income have been affected.
We have opened applications for the R350 Covid-19 special grant per month for unemployed South Africans who are not receiving any other form of government assistance.
At the close of business today, some three million South Africans had already applied for this assistance.
These temporary measures will be in force for six months.
We will spare no effort to ensure that our most vulnerable citizens receive support and protection during this difficult time.
The scale of the measures we have taken, including tax relief and interventions by the Reserve Bank of South Africa, is historic.
The Solidarity Fund, which was created to support the coronavirus response, has raised around R2.7 billion in commitments from more than 175,000 individuals and more than 1,500 companies and foundations.
We thank the many governments and organizations that continue to generously support our response to the coronavirus.
In addition to those I have previously recognized, I wish to express our appreciation to the government and people of the United States for the donation of 1,000 fans.
I also want to acknowledge the commitment of the R2-trillion ELMA Group of Foundations to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on vulnerable communities in Africa.
This includes an immediate contribution of R250 million to the South African Solidarity Fund.
We are determined that our response matches the proportions of the crisis and helps ensure that the fundamentals of our economy are protected.
There have been very disturbing reports of rising levels of gender-based violence since the closure began.
The scourge of gender violence continues to haunt our country as the men of our country declare war on women.
We have developed an emergency route for survivors to ensure that victims of gender-based violence receive assistance.
One of the interventions we have taken is to ensure that lockdown regulations are structured so that a woman can leave her home to report abuse without fear of further fines, intimidation, or violence.
Now, two months after we declared a national disaster state, we are ready to move into a new phase in our response to the coronavirus pandemic.
On May 1, we moved to alert level 4 and began the gradual reduction of the national blockade.
This was in line with our risk-adjusted strategy through which we sought to decrease the infection rate and flatten the curve.
We are now preparing for further easing of the embargo and a gradual opening of the economy.
I will repeat what I have said before: if we lift the lock too abruptly and too quickly, we risk a rapid and unmanageable increase in infections.
Therefore, we will continue to proceed with caution, informed by the best available evidence and guided by the advice of local and international experts.
Our goal is to constantly increase economic activity while establishing measures to reduce virus transmission and provide adequate care for people who are infected and in need of treatment.
The last time I spoke to you, I described the five-level alert system that we have introduced to guide this process.
At the time, the country was at Alert Level 5, which has the strictest restrictions on movement and economic activity.
Alert Level 4, which is the current level across the country, retains most blocking regulations, but allows the gradual opening of certain parts of the economy.
Alert levels 3 to 1 allow progressively greater relaxation of restrictions.
As I indicated then, some areas of the country may be designated at a particular alert level, while others may be designated at other levels.
This would be done according to the infection rate in an area and the state of readiness and capacity of its health facilities to cope with the treatment of infected people.
For now, infections are mainly concentrated in a few municipalities and metropolitan districts of the country.
It is important that we maintain strict restrictions in these areas and restrict travel outside of these areas to parts of the country with lower infection rates.
We will immediately begin a consultation process with relevant stakeholders on a proposal that by the end of May, most of the country be placed on Alert Level 3, but that the parts of the country with the highest infection rates remain in Level 4.
We will make more announcements after the completion of the consultations.
In the coming days, we will also announce certain changes to Tier 4 regulations to expand permitted business activities in the retail space and e-commerce and reduce exercise restrictions.
Some have questioned whether our approach to dealing with the coronavirus has been at the expense of our people’s livelihoods.
Our strategic approach has been based on saving lives and preserving livelihoods.
Our key objective has always been to decrease the infection rate through a series of interventions in our coronavirus prevention toolbox.
Each of these prevention measures is crucial and non-negotiable. Are:
- Blocking (to achieve extreme social distancing)
- Social distancing
- Adopt hand hygiene practices by washing your hands regularly with soap and water or
disinfectant - Cough label, including cough on elbow or handkerchief
- Wear cloth masks when you are in public places
- Use of personal protective equipment by all health workers.
- Frequent cleaning of the work environment and other public spaces.
- Symptom detection
- Testing, isolation, quarantine, and contact tracking.
It is in the implementation of all these preventive measures that we will overcome this disease.
The success of our efforts to limit virus transmission depends on finding infected people as soon as possible, tracking their contacts and isolating them so that they cannot transmit the virus to others.
Our door-to-door screening campaign in vulnerable communities across the country resulted in more than 100,000 people being tested.
This gave us a good indication of the extent of infection among the population, but we now need a screening and testing program that targets areas where people are more likely to become infected.
This will involve identifying critical infection points using a combination of technology, surveillance data, and epidemiological mapping, enabling the rapid deployment of dedicated detection and testing teams in these areas.
Those that test positive should be isolated or isolated in appropriate facilities and independently inspected.
Most importantly, this new phase will require each of us to change our own behavior in profound ways.
There needs to be a fundamental change in our thinking and our way of life.
We need to take personal responsibility for our own health and the health of others.
Recall that, although the blockage has decreased the transmission rate, the coronavirus is still present, and will be present with us for a long time.
We were warned that infections will inevitably increase as blockade measures are eased, as has happened in many countries.
We also know that coronavirus will continue to be a threat to global health for some time, and that the fight against Covid-19 must be part of our daily lives.
Our success in overcoming the coronavirus will ultimately be determined by the changes we make in our behavior.
As restrictions are eased, we will need to observe social distancing even more carefully, wear face masks every time we leave home, wash our hands regularly with soap and water or disinfectant, and avoid contact with others.
I have been encouraged that so many people wear face masks in public since the start of Alert Level 4.
We will have to reorganize workplaces, schools, universities, colleges and other public places to limit transmission.
We will have to adapt to new forms of worship, socialization, exercise and meeting that minimize the opportunities for the virus to spread.
It is our actions now that will determine whether the advantage we gained through the blockade can be sustained.
It is our actions now, individually and together, that will determine whether the great sacrifices that people have made in the past two months will ultimately save the lives of thousands of South Africans and save our country from the enormous devastation this pandemic can cause.
The transition to the next phase of the coronavirus response will be, in many ways, more difficult than the current one.
The risk of infection outbreaks will increase as more people return to work.
This requires vigilance, responsibility and discipline on the part of all of us.
My South African compatriots,
For the past seven weeks, he has been asked to endure a lot and sacrifice a lot.
On more than one occasion, I have appeared before you and asked you to accept strict restrictions in your daily life, knowing that this will bring great difficulties.
You have heard these calls, firmly convinced that these measures are necessary for the health and well-being, in fact, the survival of our young nation.
In exchange for everything that is asked of him, there are some fundamental things that he asks of us, his leaders.
And that is why we must recognize that as we have faced this unprecedented challenge, there may have been times when we did not meet your expectations.
Some of the actions we have taken have not been clear, some have been contradictory and some have been poorly explained.
Implementation has sometimes been slow and implementation has sometimes been inconsistent and too harsh.
Tonight, I want to reaffirm my commitment and the commitment of the government that I lead to take the necessary measures to safeguard the life, dignity and interests of the South African people.
The last time I spoke to you, I said that we will soon embark on the third phase of our economic response to the coronavirus crisis by outlining a clear strategy for economic recovery.
The cabinet is busy with this issue and will be announced when the job is complete. We are determined and committed:
- To ensure that all government decisions are made in good faith, that they are reasonable and based on empirical evidence, and that they cause no more harm than good;
- Be transparent, have confidence in the nation and do it regularly;
- Continue to be frank about the state of the pandemic. You want to know when things are wrong and when they could get worse;
- To continue participating and consult with you;
- To ensure that we continue to mobilize all the resources at our disposal to support the most vulnerable and provide the most support to the most needy; and
- To ensure that the funds dedicated to our coronavirus response are not wasted and not stolen.
Above all, I commit myself once again to ensuring that your rights are respected and respected, especially by those who have been entrusted with this responsibility.
As your president, like this government, we are firmly committed to meeting your expectations of us.
Where we have been disappointed, we will continue to make peace. When we make mistakes, we will continue to correct them.
Our collective struggles in recent months have taught us a lot about ourselves and about others.
We have also learned a lot about this virus.
Although there may have been differences and disagreements, there has also been kindness, empathy, and compassion.
There has been courage and solidarity.
A very different South Africa and world await us.
The biggest test will be our willingness to accept the change.
Let us rise to meet this challenge.
Let’s unite as a family and a nation to build a new and stronger society.
The days that await us will be difficult.
But we will draw strength from what we have achieved.
We should remember the words spoken by President Nelson Mandela 20 years ago, when our country was being devastated by another pandemic.
He said:
“In the face of the serious threat of HIV / AIDS, we have to overcome our differences and combine our efforts to save our people.
“History will judge us harshly if we don’t do it now.”
In closing, let me offer the words of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, spoken at a difficult time in the life of his own country:
“The state of this nation is good. The heart of this nation is sound. The spirit of this nation is strong. The faith of this nation is eternal. ”
May God bless South Africa and protect his people. Thank you. DM
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