Nu Metro cinemas has shut their doors following President Cyril Ramaphosa's 21-day lockdown announcement on Monday over the coronavirus pandemic.
This comes after President Ramaphosa announced that South Africa will enforce the lockdown, effective Thursday midnight.
"Immediate, swift and extraordinary action is required if we are to avoid human costs of this virus," said Ramaphosa during his announced in Pretoria.
In a press statement, Nu Metro, one of the leading cinema house confirmed that they will be closing all their cinema theatres until further notice.
"This serves to confirm that Nu Metro management has decided to close all of its cinema complexes and accompanying operations in South Africa with immediate effect, following the governmental announcement of the national lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus."
"The precautionary measures for Nu Metro cinemas announced last week were implemented with full efficacy until the final movie shows in cinemas last night (Monday, 23 March 2020).
'We at Nu Metro consider the health of our customers and staff as top priority and we would again like to encourage all South Africans to follow all health, hygiene and other legal regulations as communicated by the Department of Health.
Our cinemas will remain closed until the end of the lockdown, or as otherwise directed by the South African government."
An official announcement was also made on the company's Twitter page:
📢📢
— Nu Metro (@numetro) March 24, 2020
It's just an intermission, not the end of the movie! We will be back soon. pic.twitter.com/9hMqci29PX
The statement also stated that the shutdown will be enforced in South Africa only.
"Nu Metro’s cinema operations in Mozambique and Zambia continue to trade with strict precautionary measures, in line with the current governmental directives in place there." added the statement.