South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa announced in a televised address on 24 May 2020 that South Africa will move to alert level 3 of its risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of COVID-19 with effect from 01 June 2020. This applies to the whole of the country, including areas that have been declared as coronavirus hotspots. These are Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City, Cape Town, West Coast district municipality, Overberg district municipality, Cape Winelands district municipality (all Western Cape), Chris Hani district municipality (Eastern Cape) and the iLembe district municipality (KwaZulu-Natal). According to President Ramaphosa, these areas will be reviewed every two weeks and will most-probably see more stringent movement restrictions compared to other parts of South Africa.
During alert level 3, all areas of the economy will be allowed to reopen. Excluded are high-risk activities, which will remain prohibited. These include:
- restaurants, bars and taverns, except for delivery or collection of food.
- accommodation and domestic air travel, except for business travel, which will be phased in on dates to be announced.
- conferences, events, entertainment and sporting activities.
- personal care services, including hairdressing and beauty services.
The current curfew from 20h00 – 05h00 will no longer apply and people will be able to exercise at any time during the day, provided this is not done in groups. Alcohol will be sold for home consumption, while the prohibition on smoking products, including cigarettes, will continue. South Africa’s borders will remain closed during alert level 3, except for the transportation of goods and repatriation of citizens.
