Coronavirs lockdown in S Africa to be phased out gradually: Govt

South Africa on Thursday announced that the national lockdown due to COVID-19 pandemic will be phased out , with some restrictions likely to remain in force for a very long time.

"When we do stop the lockdown, we cannot do it abruptly - that today it's complete lockdown and tomorrow it's open completely. We have to phase it in, so that there is an orderly move towards normality," Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said at a briefing by the National Command Council (NCC).

The NCC is in charge of leading the fight against the coronavirus which has already claimed 34 lives and left over 2,500 infected.

The Minister was speaking as South Africans prepared to enter a two-week extension of a 21-day lockdown that would have ended on Thursday.

The lockdown regulations prohibit local and international travel; gatherings of more than 50 people, including at funerals; and only essential services may operate under limited conditions.

Citizens also have to remain in their homes and may venture out only to buy food or for medical reasons.

"Probably every week we are going to be announcing which areas are going to be opened, incrementally, and the conditions of those openings," Dlamini-Zuma said.

The minister did not provide any further details on this, but analysts said they expected health services as winter starts in the country, as well as reactivating production lines, to be priorities.

"Industries will have to slowly come on stream," Dlamini-Zuma said, cautioning that not all forthcoming NCC announcements should be construed as lifting restrictions.

"There must be an orderly way of easing the lockdown. For now, it ends on April 30, but even if it ends on the 30th you cannot just open the flood gates," Dlamini-Zuma said, adding that some regulations would remain in place for a "very long time."