S Africa extends lockdown by two more weeks; top execs take 30% pay cut

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has extended the 21-day, COVID-19-led national lockdown for another two weeks.

Ramaphosa made the announcement on Thursday evening in a national TV broadcast as the country prepared to start the third week of the initial lockdown that would have ended on April 16.

The president also said the Cabinet and top management in government would take a one-third pay cut for the next three months to assist the Solidarity Fund.

"There is sufficient evidence to show that the lockdown is working," Ramaphosa said, saying that the pre-lockdown rise of infection at a rate of 42 oper cent has come down to four percent after enforcing the measure.

But the struggle against the coronavirus is far from over. We are only at the beginning of a monumental struggle that demands our every resource and our every effort.

We cannot relax. We cannot be complacent. In the coming weeks and months, we must massively increase the extent of our response and expand the reach of our interventions, Ramaphosa said.

Cautioning against the abrupt withdrawal of the lockdown, the president said, "If we end the lockdown too abruptly, we risk reversing the gains we have made in the last few weeks."