Cinemas, salons, non-contact sports to return as South Africa eases lockdown

Casinos, theatres, cinemas, salons and non-contact sports will be allowed in South Africa, even as the five-level strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will remain at level-3, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said while announcing further easing of the lockdown in the country.

Casinos, theatres, cinemas, salons and non-contact sports will be allowed in South Africa, even as the five-level strategy to fight the COVID-19 pandemic will remain at level-3, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said while announcing further easing of the lockdown in the country. Ramaphosa said the government has considered the huge economic impact and joblessness the prohibition is causing, especially to women employed in the personal care sector and those employed in the entertainment and hospitality industries. South Africa in March had implemented the coronavirus lockdown, including a ban on alcohol and cigarette sales. The government is gradually easing the restrictions. The country is currently on the third of five levels.

In a televised address to the nation on Wednesday to mark the 100th day since the first COVID-19 patient was diagnosed in South Africa, Ramaphosa said the lifting of restrictions would include restaurants for sit down meals, where previously customers could only purchase takeaways. Accredited and licensed accommodation facilities, such as hotels, cinemas, theatres and casinos, hairdressers, beauty salons and other personal care services would be allowed to reopen on a date still to be announced, but with prescribed restrictions on numbers and COVID-19 prevention measures.

Conferences and meetings for business purpose, as well as non-contact sports, including tennis, golf, and cricket, will also be permitted under similar conditions, but contact sports will be allowed only for training and modified activities with restricted use of facilities. "We have taken this decision with due care and seriousness, appreciating the risks associated with each activity and the measures needed to manage those risks. Altogether, these industries employed over 500,000 people before the lockdown. We have had to think about these people and those who depend on them for their livelihoods," Ramaphosa said.

"Through the easing of the lockdown we are continuing to balance our overriding objective of saving lives and preserving livelihoods," he said. Emphasising the impact of the lockdown on women, the president said it has been particularly important for the government to open up personal care services as the industry predominantly employs women. "The last three months have been particularly difficult for the millions of women who work as hairdressers, in spas, as therapists and technicians. Many of these are businesses are owned by women and a source of income in the informal sector," Ramaphosa said. “The disease, and the measures we have taken to fight it, have caused massive disruption in the lives of our people, bringing our economy to a standstill and threatening the livelihoods of millions,” Ramaphosa said.

Coronavirus has killed 1,674 people in South Africa, while the number of confirmed cases is 80,412. With 44,331 people recovering from the disease, there are currently 34,407 active cases in the country. "Even after 100 days, we are still near the beginning of this epidemic and it will remain with us for many more months, possibly years. The task of dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is like running a marathon race and not a sprint, and we have therefore had to shape our response according to that reality,” Ramaphosa said.

He acknowledged public concerns about delays in testing for the virus. "Although the situation is improving, we continue to experience delays in testing. This has severe implications for effectively managing patients with the infection as well as tracing the contacts of infected people. We are therefore using every avenue available to source the supplies we need and to increase our testing capacity and improve the turnaround time," he said.