From the office of the provincial premier

The Eastern Cape provincial government welcomes the decisions taken by the national government which were communicated by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday evening. We support additional restrictions in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro, and we believe these will help us contain the spread of coronavirus in the Metro before it can further spread to other parts of our province. We appreciate the commitment of the local industries in efforts to mitigate the spread of Coronavirus in the province, especially in the Nelson Mandela Bay Metro and Sarah Baartman district.
We also welcome the final decision on ulwaluko for the summer season. The provincial government will work with the national government in the finalisation of regulations that support these decisions for implementation. It is important that the people of our province understand the importance of these decisions as government’s efforts to work with the community of our province to lower the spread of this virus in order to save many lives.
Every resident of our province has a duty to stop the spread of this virus by wearing masks in public places, keeping physical distance from another person, washing and sanitising hands.
The Eastern Cape Provincial Coronavirus Command Council will hold its weekly meeting tomorrow to focus on the speedy implementation of these decisions. The importance of the meeting is to provide guidance on ulwaluko, the implementation of the new restrictions to mitigate the spread of the virus to other parts of the province.