South African’s have been speculating that the national lockdown which took effect on the 27th of March would be extended, last night President, Cyril Ramaphosa confirmed the speculations on the 9th of April when he confirmed that the lockdown would be stretched to the end of April. The Presidency said Ramaposa’s address to the nation followed a meeting of the national coronavirus command council and further consultations with various social partners.
According to Johns Hopkins tracker “more than 1.5-million people globally had been infected with the novel coronavirus, according to the Johns Hopkins tracker, taking 90,000 lives. The lockdown was implemented to curb the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Ramaphosa said SA was at the beginning of a monumental struggle and could not be complacent. He added that the decision to extend the lockdown was not to be taken lightly.
On the other hand, the extension of the national lockdown will have “huge” implications for the country’s economy, experts say. Economist, Dawie Roodt said the extension of the lockdown would have an impact on business, especially smaller businesses.“The impact of the extension will be very serious for the economy. And this will ultimately affect how people react and co-operate. When you lock down a country, people become desperate and this is bad if they were already desperate,” said Ralph Mathekga, Political Analyst.
