On 7 January 2020, ‘Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2’ (SARS-CoV-2) was confirmed as the causative agent of ‘Coronavirus Disease 2019’ or COVID-19. The majority of the case-patients initially identified were dealers and vendors at a seafood, poultry and live wildlife market in China. Since then, the virus has spread to more than 100 countries, including South Africa.
State of Disaster Regulations to Prevent the Spread of COVID-19 Gazetted: Infographics
On 23 March 2020, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a new measure to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus in South Africa – a three-week nationwide lockdown with severe restrictions on travel and movement, supported by the South African National Defence Force – from midnight on Thursday, 26 March, to midnight on Thursday, 16 April. The President said more needed to be done to avoid “an enormous catastrophe” among the population.
With government having declared a national state of disaster amid the COVID-19 virus outbreak, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma has gazetted regulations aimed at containing the spread. For more information, see State of Disaster Regulations below.
