BusinessLive reports that on Wednesday President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the further easing of level 3 lockdown restrictions, allowing over 500,000 more people to return to work in sectors that include hotels, personal care services, restaurants and cinemas.
The reopening of the restaurants for sit-down dining and hotels, with the exceptions of shared accommodation such as Airbnb, on condition that they adhere to strict hygiene and social distancing protocols, will allow their employees to join the roughly 16-million people already back at work. Much of the economy swung back into action in early June when the government moved to level 3 under its five-level risk adjusted system. Other sectors that will be allowed to reopen are conference venues, casinos, and personal care services such as hairdressers, as well as non-contact sports such as golf, tennis and cricket. Chris du Toit, CEO of Tsogo Sun, one of SA’s biggest casinos and hotels operator, welcomed the news, saying: “This is long overdue. We're obviously very pleased.” The lockdown was put in place to curb the spread of Covid-19, but has had a devastating effect on the economy, prompting economists and think-tanks to slash their forecasts.
- Read the full original of the report in the above regard by Genevieve Quintal at BusinessLive
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