President #Ramaphosa: Fellow Compatriots, it is 25 days since South Africa began a nation-wide lockdown to contain the spread of the #coronavirus. It has demanded of you great fortitude and endurance.

President #Ramaphosa: It has caused you much suffering and required much sacrifice. Once again, I salute you and I thank you. The #coronavirus pandemic has disrupted your lives and damaged our economy.

President #Ramaphosa: Its severity will continue to take a heavy toll in the weeks and months to come. The pandemic has resulted in the sudden loss of income for businesses and individuals alike, deepening poverty and increasing hunger.

President #Ramaphosa: The urgent and dramatic measures we have taken to delay the spread of the virus have been absolutely necessary. They have given us the space to better respond to the inevitable rise in infections and to thereby save tens of thousands of lives.

President #Ramaphosa: While the nation-wide lockdown is having a devastating effect on our economy, it is nothing compared to the catastrophic human, social and economic cost if the coronavirus could spread among our people unchecked.

President #Ramaphosa: Medical scientists and our doctors inform us that we are still in the early stages of this pandemic. Without proven therapeutic medicines or a vaccine, we can expect this to continue as a problem for the foreseeable future.

President #Ramaphosa: Our foremost priority now is to intensify the health interventions needed to contain and delay the spread of the disease and to save lives. To date, the coronavirus has taken the lives of at least 58 people in our country.

President #Ramaphosa: This is a loss that we all mourn, for we know the pain and the anguish of their loved ones. From the more than 126,000 tests conducted, 3,465 confirmed cases of coronavirus have been identified.

President #Ramaphosa: More than 2 million people have been screened in communities across the country and, of these, over 15,000 have been referred for testing.

President #Ramaphosa: Alongside this unprecedented public health effort are the measures we are taking to protect livelihoods, to stave off hunger and destitution and to set our economy on a path of recovery.

President #Ramaphosa: This evening, I wish to address you on our economic and social response to this global health emergency.

The #COVID19 pandemic requires an economic response that is equal to the scale of the disruption it is causing.

President #Ramaphosa: Our economic response can be divided into three phases. The first phase began in mid-March when we declared the coronavirus pandemic as a national disaster.

#COVID19 #CoronaVirusSA