We have introduced an economic and social relief package worth over R500 billion to help companies in distress, to save jobs and to provide some income to informal workers and poor households.
Since it was established, the special COVID-19 relief scheme of the Unemployment Insurance Fund has paid out over R11 billion to 2 million employees employed by over 160,000 companies in distress.
This will help to keep companies afloat and save millions of jobs.
The various funds that we established to provide support for small businesses, including the initiatives of the Department of Small Business Development, the Department of Tourism, the Industrial Development Corporation and the South African Future Trust, have provided direct assistance to over 27,000 enterprises.
As of today, the R200 billion COVID-19 Loan Guarantee Scheme, which is guaranteed by the government, has begun to process applications from small and medium-sized businesses.
At the beginning of this month, government paid out an additional R5 billion to social grant recipients to assist poor households at a time when other sources of income have been disrupted.
We have opened applications for the special COVID-19 grant of R350 a month for unemployed South Africans who receive no other form of assistance from government.
By the close of business today, some 3 million South Africans had already applied for this assistance.
These temporary measures will be in place for six months.
We will spare no effort to ensure our most vulnerable citizens are supported and protected during this difficult time.
The scale of the measures we have taken, including tax relief and interventions by the South African Reserve Bank, is historic.
The Solidarity Fund, which was set up to support the coronavirus response, has raised around R2.7 billion in commitments from over 175,000 individuals and more than 1,500 companies and foundations.
We are grateful to the many governments and organisations that continue to generously support our coronavirus response.
In addition to those that I have previously recognised, I wish to express our appreciation to the government and the people of the United States for the donation of 1,000 ventilators.
I also want to recognise the commitment of the ELMA Group of Foundations of R2 billion to mitigate the impact of coronavirus on vulnerable communities in Africa.
This includes an immediate contribution of R250 million to South Africa’s Solidarity Fund.
We are determined that our response matches the proportions of the crisis and helps to ensure that the foundations of our economy are protected.
There have been very disturbing reports of increased levels of gender-based violence since the lockdown started.
The scourge of gender-based violence continues to stalk our country as the men of our country declared war on the women.
We have developed an emergency pathway for survivors to ensure that the victims of gender-based violence are assisted.
One of the interventions we have made is to ensure lockdown regulations be structured in a manner that a woman can leave her home to report abuse without the fear of a fine, intimidation or further violence.
Now, two months after we declared a national state of disaster, we are ready to shift to a new phase in our response to the coronavirus pandemic.
On the first of May, we moved to Alert Level 4 and began the phased easing of the national lockdown.
This was in line with our risk-adjusted strategy through which we sought to slow down the rate of infection and flatten the curve.
We are now preparing for a further easing of the lockdown and a gradual opening of the economy.
I will repeat what I have said before: if we lift the lockdown too abruptly and too quickly, we risk a rapid and unmanageable surge in infections.
We will therefore continue to proceed cautiously, informed by the best available evidence and guided by the advice of local and international experts.
Our goal is to steadily increase economic activity while putting measures in place to reduce the transmission of the virus and provide adequate care for those who become infected and need treatment.
When I last addressed you, I outlined the five level alert system that we have introduced to guide this process.
At the time, the country was at alert level 5, which has the most stringent restrictions on movement and economic activity.
Alert level 4 – which is the current level across the country – retains most of the lockdown regulations but permits the gradual opening up of certain parts of the economy.
Alert levels 3 to 1 allow a progressively greater relaxation of restrictions.
As I indicated then, some areas of the country may be designated at a particular alert level, while others may be designated at other levels.
This would be done according to the rate of infection in an area and the state of readiness and the capacity of its health facilities to cope with treating infected people.
For now, infections are mostly concentrated in a few metropolitan municipalities and districts in the country.
it is important that we maintain stringent restrictions in these areas and restrict travel out of these areas to parts of the country with lower rates of infection.
We will immediately begin a process of consultation with relevant stakeholders on a proposal that by the end of May, most of the country be placed on alert level 3, but that those parts of the country with the highest rates of infection remain on level 4.
We will make further announcements after the completion of the consultations
In the coming days, we will also be announcing certain changes to level 4 regulations to expand permitted business activities in the retail space and ecommerce and reduce restrictions on exercise.
Some have questioned whether our approach in dealing with the coronavirus has been at the expense of the livelihoods of our people.
Our strategic approach has been based on saving lives and preserving livelihoods.
Our key objective has always been to slow down the infection rate through a number of interventions in our coronavirus prevention toolbox.
Each of these prevention measures are crucial and non-negotiable. They are:
Lockdown (to achieve extreme social distancing)
Social distancing
Adopting hand hygiene practices by washing hands regularly with water and soap or sanitiser
Cough etiquette including coughing into your elbow or a tissue
Wearing cloth masks whenever you are in public places
Use of personal protection equipment by all health workers
Frequent cleaning of the work environment and other public spaces
Symptom screening
Testing, isolation, quarantine and contact tracing
It is in the implementation of all these preventative measures that we will overcome this disease.
The success of our efforts to limit transmission of the virus depends on finding those who are infected as early as possible, tracing their contacts and isolating them so they cannot pass on the virus to others.
Our door-to-door screening campaign in vulnerable communities across the country resulted in over 100,000 people being referred for testing.
This gave us a good indication of the extent of the infection among the population, but we now need a screening and testing programme that is targeted to areas where people are more likely to be infected.
This will involve the identification of infection hotspots using a combination of technology, surveillance data and epidemiological mapping, enabling the rapid deployment of dedicated screening and testing teams to these areas.
Those found to be positive should either self-isolate or be isolated in suitable and independently inspected facilities.
Most importantly, this new phase will require each of us to change our own behaviour in profound ways.
There needs to be a fundamental shift in our thinking and our way of life.
We need to take personal responsibility for our own health and the health of others.
Let us remember that although the lockdown has slowed down the rate of transmission, the coronavirus is very much still present – and will be present among us for a long time to come.
We have been warned that infections will inevitably rise as the lockdown measures are eased, as has happened in many countries.
We also know that the coronavirus will continue to be a global health threat for some time to come, and that the fight against COVID-19 needs to become part of our daily lives.
Our success in overcoming the coronavirus will ultimately be determined by the changes we make in our behaviour.
As restrictions are eased, we will need to observe social distancing even more carefully, wear face masks whenever we leave home, wash hands regularly with soap and water or sanitiser, and avoid contact with other people.
I have been encouraged that so many people are wearing face masks in public since the start of Alert Level 4.
We will need to re-organise workplaces, schools, universities, colleges and other public places to limit transmission.
We will need to adapt to new ways of worshipping, socialising, exercising and meeting that minimise opportunities for the virus to spread.
It is our actions now that will determine whether the advantage we gained through the lockdown can be sustained.