South Africa is
taking the most drastic measures yet in Africa to curb the spread of the novel
coronavirus. South Africa's president, Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday, March 15th,
announced that there were 61 confirmed coronavirus cases in the country.
"Never before in the history of our democracy have we been confronted by
such a severe situation," Ramaphosa said.
"The SA
government has put measures in place to treat those infected. We now have 61
people confirmed positive with the disease in South Africa. Initially, it was
people who had travelled from abroad. But we are now dealing with internal
transmission of the virus.
"We have
decided to take urgent and drastic measures to manage the disease, protect the
people of our country and to reduce the impact of the virus on our society and
on our economy.
"There can
be no half measures.
"We are
imposing a travel ban on foreign nationals from high-risk countries such as
Italy, Iran, South Korea, Spain, Germany, the United States, the United
Kingdom, and China as from 18 March 2020.
"South
African citizens are advised to refrain from all forms of travel to or through
the European Union, United States, United Kingdom and other identified
high-risk countries such as China, Iran, and South Korea," said President
Ramaphosa.
He also announced
the shutting of schools from Wednesday, March 18 until after the Easter
weekend. Mid-year holidays are to be shortened to compensate for the loss in
teaching time.
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