LIVE: President Cyril Ramaphosa gives Covid-19 update

Johannesburg - President Cyril Ramaphosa is addressing the nation to provide an update on efforts to contain the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus. 

As of Wednesday, South Africa has 18 Covid-19 related deaths and more than 1800 confirmed cases of the virus. 

This was confirmed by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday night in a statement, which showed the average age of those killed by the virus as of Wednesday night, was 68. 

Khusela Diko, a spokesperson for the president, said the SABC would provide a pool feed to broadcasters for the address. 

She said the president would address the nation after he had held a meeting of the National Coronavirus Command Council on Wednesday. 

On Wednesday, Ramaphosa also placed Communications Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams on two months suspension after she violated lockdown regulations by visiting and dining with former deputy minister Mduduzi Manana at his Johannesburg home. 

She apologised for the transgression and the EFF has since opened a criminal case against her, with other organisations condemning Ndabeni-Abrahams for the gaffe.

Earlier on Thursday, Ramaphosa visited the Covid-19 Information Centre at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria, where he expressed satisfaction at how the country was dealing with the spread of the virus. 

“This is the assistance that we are appreciative of and also I would also like the leadership of the CSIR. They are stepping up in our effort to fight against coronavirus and they are doing it in the most scientific way and I think as a nation we should be proud that we have an institution like the CSIR which is always trying to be ahead of the curve in terms of bringing solution for the nation to utilise,” Ramaphosa said.

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