Ramaphosa calls on people to be prepared to live with coronavirus

Johannesburg: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has cautioned the people to be prepared to live with the deadly coronavirus for a year or more and asked them to adapt to social distancing measures and wear face masks even after the lockdown is eased, minimising opportunities for the spread of the virus in the country.

South Africa has so far reported over 12,000 COVID-19 cases and more than 200 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University data.

The country has been under a nationwide lockdown since March 27. The president had last month announced a five-phase plan to gradually ease the lockdown imposed to combat the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

Currently, the country is on level four under which limited businesses are allowed to open, there is a curfew between 8 pm and 5 am and a ban on alcohol and liquor sales.

“While there is still much about the pandemic that is unknown, experts now agree that the virus will remain a threat to global public health for some time," Ramaphosa said in his newsletter on Monday.

“We must therefore be prepared to continue to live with the coronavirus among us for a year or even more,” he said.

Stressing that life will not be like before after easing of the lockdown, he said, “we must be prepared for a new reality in which the fight against COVID-19 becomes part of our daily existence".

“Even after lockdown – especially after lockdown – we will still need to observe social distancing, wear face masks, wash hands regularly, and avoid contact with other people. We will need to re-organise workplaces, schools, universities, colleges and other public places to limit transmission,” he said.

The president said that even the countries that have started easing their lockdown restrictions are doing so tentatively and with extreme caution.

“Like us, (other countries) have had to heed calls for economic activity to resume. Like our citizens, their populations are restive and frustrated with the curtailment of personal freedoms. At the same time, health experts around the globe are warning of a second wave of infections as public life resumes. A number of countries including Germany, Iran and China have seen a rise in new infections since they relaxed certain restrictions," he said.

“We will be no different. We can and must expect infections to rise as more people return to work. We must accept the reality, prepare for it and adapt to it,” Ramaphosa said.

The President said the next phase of the national initiative will be to step up intensive screening, testing and case management programme.

“We will introduce new measures to make contact tracing more effective. We will need to implement mass sanitisation of workplaces, public transport and other spaces,” he said.

He called on the people to maintain a firm sense of personal responsibility as restrictions on economic activity and daily life are eased.

"In all that we do, in every sphere of life, we must take care of our own health and the health of others," he said.

“The transition to the next phase of the coronavirus response, that of recovery, will be more difficult than the present one. The risk of infection outbreaks will increase. The demands on our clinics and hospitals and medical personnel will grow. That is why easing the lockdown restrictions must not result in careless behaviour by individuals or reckless practices by businesses keen to resume activity at the cost of human health,” he said.

Lauding the people of the country for the way they earlier handled the HIV/AIDS crisis in South Africa, which has the largest number of cases in the world, through their behavioural change, Ramaphosa called on them to react similarly to the COVID-19 crisis.