South Africa has started a 3-week nationwide lockdown as the country reports its first deaths from COVID-19.
Wearing a camouflage uniform, President Cyril Ramaphosa spoke to soldiers in the Soweto township of Johannesburg, urging them to be a"force of kindness" and to"defend our people against coronavirus."
"This is unprecedented, not only in our democracy, but also in the history of our country, that we will have a lockdown for 21 days to go out and wage war against an invisible enemy, coronavirus," he said.Thursday that the president had submitted to a coronavirus test and the results had come back negative."The Presidency has deemed it necessary to make the test results public to reassure the nation that the President is in good health and continues with his duties," it said.
South Africa has among the world's highest rates of HIV infection and those immune-compromised individuals are especially vulnerable to the COVID-19 respiratory disease. The country also has a large number of people with tuberculosis. As NPR's Jason Beaubien,"It's not known exactly how COVID-19 would play out in TB patients but piling a second respiratory disease on top of TB could be devastating.
South Africa is the most industrialized country in Africa, but it is already in a recession, with unemployment at 29%. The 21-day lockdown was certain to exacerbate its economic woes.
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