South Africa closes public schools as Coronavirus cases rise

State schools in South Africa will close for four weeks from Monday as part of measures to combat a surge in the number of coronavirus cases.

President Cyril Ramaphosa said it was important to ensure that schools did not become sites of transmission at a time when coronavirus cases in South Africa are rising at one of the fastest rates in the world.

Older students in primary and secondary schools returned to schools on 6 July.

“Taking into account the views of the various stakeholders and expert bodies, cabinet has decided that all public schools should take a break for the next four weeks,” President Ramaphosa said.

He said the current academic year will be extended beyond the end of 2020 as a result of the disruptions caused by the pandemic.

“We have taken a deliberately cautious approach to keep schools closed during a period when the country is expected to experience its greatest increase in infections,” he said.

The president also announced a $30bn (£24bn) package to fund health services and help those in greatest need.

-BBC

POST TAGS

ABOUT: Nana Kwesi Coomson

[email protected]

An Entrepreneur, Corporate Social Responsibility, Corporate Communications Executive and Philanthropist. Editor-in-Chief of www.233times.com. A Senior Journalist with Ghanaian Chronicle Newspaper. An alumnus of Adisadel College where he read General Arts. His first degree is in Bachelor of Arts - Political Science (major) and History (minor) from the University of Ghana. He holds MSc in Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Energy with Public Relations (PR) from the Robert Gordon University in the United Kingdom. He is a 2018 Mandela Washington Fellow who studied at Clark Atlanta University in USA on the Business and Entrepreneurship track.

View all posts by: Nana Kwesi Coomson