Durban - President Cyril Ramaphosa held a video conferencing meeting on Saturday with the country's nine premiers and cabinet ministers who are on the frontlines on the war against the coronavirus.
As the country entered day nine of the 21-day national lockdown, Ramaphosa convened a special President’s Coordinating Council meeting on Saturday morning to discuss progress and challenges on the implementation of the national and provincial responses the lockdown.
Also on the agenda was the country's economic recovery plan post the Covid-19 lockdown.
The details and the outcome of the meeting was not made known.
The meeting came against the backdrop of a mass screening of people in uMlazi for the coronavirus by the Department of Health on Saturday. The screening is part of government's effort to determine the rate of community infection of the coronavirus.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19, the lockdown & our economic recovery plan. Attending is the DP, Ministers, 9 Premiers & SALGA. pic.twitter.com/fx69Iml3eU
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa)
This, after Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Friday that the confirmed coronavirus Covid-19 cases in South Africa have increased to 1505, an increase of 43 from 1 462 on Thursday.
The confirmed death tally now sits at seven deaths, after two people in their 80s died in KwaZulu-Natal, the minister announced during a press briefing at the Khayelitsha Hospital in Cape Town.
"We would like to convey our condolences to the families and friends of these individuals. We would also like to thank the health workers who are working tirelessly every day," he said.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19. pic.twitter.com/McaWMcJcHp
— Lindiwe Sisulu (@LindiweSisuluSA)
The minister has this week confirmed coronavirus cases in at least five townships around the country. The cases were in Khayelitsha (Cape Town), Alexandra (Johannesburg) and three Durban townships, uMlazi, KwaMashu and eMaoti.
In uMlazi, a 46-year-old teacher became the first death in a township. The minister said the teacher had underlying history of asthma and hypertension.
“I still want to caution that, until we have a clear sense of what is happening in our densely populated areas, in particular townships, we should not be lulled into complacency but continue to venture forth in full combat by proactively conducting wall to wall testing and finding all Covid-19 affected people in the country,” said Mkhize.