Combating COVID-19: South Africa to extend lockdown by two weeks, announces President Ramaphosa

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday extended a nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of the coronavirus by two weeks.

The lockdown, which started on March 27 and was due to last for 21 days, is one of the toughest measures imposed by an African government, according to Al Jazeera.

"After careful consideration of the available evidence, the National Coronavirus Command Council has decided to extend the nation-wide lockdown by a further two weeks beyond the initial 21 days. This means that most of the existing lockdown measures will remain in force until the end of April," the President said.

Ramaphosa stressed that there is sufficient evidence to show that lockdown is working.

"Since the lockdown came into effect, the rate at which new cases have been identified here in South Africa has slowed significantly. From 1,170 confirmed cases on the March 27, the number of confirmed cases today stands at 1,934. In the two weeks before the lockdown, the average daily increase in new cases was around 42 per cent. Since the start of the lockdown, the average daily increase has been around 4 per cent," he said.