COVID-19 LIVE UPATES | Day 52: All the latest developments on the virus

May 17 2020 8:51

Mkhize defends lockdown rules as scientists say they are being sidelined

Scientists, business and labour have delivered a stark warning to the government to fast-track the easing of lockdown restrictions, saying they are having little or no effect on stemming infections - but are killing the economy.

Some members of the ministerial advisory committee (MAC), the body headed by professor Salim Abdool Karim that advises the government on its response to the pandemic, have supported their colleague Dr Glenda Gray, who said yesterday that the lockdown has no basis in science and should be called off.

May 17 2020 8:45

Cigarette ban 'a big failure in every way', says report

Economists behind an extensive survey of smokers say the lockdown ban on cigarette sales has been a spectacular failure and should be lifted as soon as possible.

More than 90% of the 12,000-plus smokers who completed an online questionnaire said they had bought cigarettes in spite of the ban.

On top of its failure to stop people smoking, the ban had strengthened illicit distribution networks that would now be difficult to dismantle, the economists said.

May 17 2020 8:40

Schools might reopen in June except those in 'hot spots'

More than 5,000 schools in Covid-19 hot spots across SA, including 929 private schools, will stay shut next month if the cabinet approves a new proposal by the basic education department.

The Sunday Times can reveal exclusively that the department wants schools in Buffalo City, Cape Town, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Mangaung and Nelson Mandela Bay to be regarded as being on lockdown level 5 when others around the country begin reopening on June 1.

Keeping these schools shut would affect 3.7-million pupils and 134,779 teachers.