Learning from others: President Cyril Ramaphosa announces 21-day lockdown to flatten Covid-19 curve

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a 21-day lockdown starting at midnight on Thursday to contain the spreading of Covid-19 and 'flatten the curve' in South Africa. It comes as cases in the country increased six-fold in the last 8 days. His announcement also includes the establishment of the Solidarity Fund to assist in supporting South Africa's vulnerable. The Government is contributing a R150m as seed capital and is opening the fund up for local and international contributions. Ramaphosa also announced that the Rupert and Oppenheimer families will each contribute R1bn to assist small business affected by the turndown in economic activity. In this time of lockdown South Africans will only be allowed to buy food, medicines, to render essential services and collect social grants. - Linda van Tilburg