Image: GCIS

South Africa will further relax lockdown regulations, with cinemas allowed to re-open, subject to stringent rules, President Cyril Ramaphosa said in a televised address on Wednesday.

“Following further discussions with industry representatives … and after advice from scientists and consultations with our premiers and discussions with the National Coronavirus Command Council, we have agreed to ease restrictions on other economic activities,” the president said.

Half of all confirmed cases have been recorded in the past two weeks

Casinos, hairdressers and barbers, and cinemas and theatres can also re-open, Ramaphosa said.

‘Near the beginning’

He announced that South Africa now has over 80 000 confirmed cases of Covid-19, of whom 55% have recovered.

The president, in his speech, also railed against the scourge of gender-based violence, describing it as another war that South Africa must win.