Saudi Arabia imposes dusk-to-dawn curfew over coronavirus

Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has announced a nationwide dusk-to-dawn curfew from Monday in a bid to limit the spread of the new coronavirus, the latest in a series of restrictions.

The curfew – from 19:00 until 06:00 – will be imposed for 21 days, the official Saudi Press Agency reported, citing a royal order.Deaths from the coronavirus pandemic have topped 15,000 across the globe, according to an AFP tally compiled at 11:00 GMT on Monday from official figures.

A total of 15,189 deaths have been recorded, the majority in Europe with 9,197 fatalities.

Italy is the hardest-hit country with 5,476 deaths, followed by China where the virus first emerged last year with 3,270, and Spain with 2,182.

With a total of 1,395 new deaths reported in the past 24 hours out of 172,238 officially declared cases, Europe is now the continent where the virus is spreading the most rapidly.

Several South Africans remain stranded on two cruise liners in Italy, which has been hard hit by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic.

Leigh Dobblin, 63, from Ballito in KwaZulu-Natal, said they have been stranded on board the Costa Luminosa cruise liner since 24 February.

“We are currently docked at port Savona in Italy and have been confined to our cabins for nine days now and they are no longer telling us anything anymore,” she said.

Dobblin indicated that initially they were informed there were 100 South African citizens on board.

She said several people have been taken off the ship and transported away in ambulances. She claimed that Costa Cruises, the company which operates the cruise liner, planned on leaving all passengers on the ship in Italy.

No cases yet

Dobblin, who suffers from emphysema, said she has not yet tested for Covid-19.

“Only temperatures are taken every day. I am not on oxygen, but lung meds are finished and blood pressure tabs finished,” she added.

Viljoen Human, 62, from the Western Cape, is on board the Costa Pacifica cruise liner, along with 168 other South Africans. The cruise ship, which belongs to the same company, had docked in Genoa, Italy, but has since left for Rome.

He added that the South Africans on board the cruise liner held meetings daily to keep each other updated as the ship’s management was not providing updates.

Broken promises

Human said attempts to get answers from the cruise liner’s management have been futile and promises to get them back home six days ago have not been fulfilled.

“We were supposed to get off in Barcelona and catch flights back home, but only Barcelona citizens were allowed to disembark, and our ship moved on to Genoa in Italy,” he said.

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The DA has requested the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality give businesses battling to survive the Covid-19 epidemic a rates and refuse payment holiday, along with a waiver on water and sewage charges.

In a written joint statement from DA councillors Renaldo Gouws and Malcolm Figg, the party also requested that the municipality freeze rental payments for businesses leasing land from the city.

“Now more than ever the municipality needs to assist where we can, to ensure that our economy survives this turbulent time,” the statement reads.

Stringent measures have been put in place by the government, which includes alcohol not being sold between 6pm and 9am on weekdays and Saturdays and after 1pm on Sundays and public holidays. Establishments may not accommodate more than 50 people at a time.

This has already led to a number of outlets in the city to temporarily closed their doors.

“Businesses are the hardest hit and the latest restraint on trade for restaurants, pubs and clubs could potentially have a massive negative economic impact not only on these businesses, but also on the people they employ and the metro at large.”

Newlyweds wear protective face masks at a wedding ceremony with only witnesses and no guests.
Image: CIRO DE LUCA
The Covid-19 outbreak and President Cyril Ramphosa’s national regulations, limiting events and gatherings to less than 100 people, has caused disruptions in the wedding scene.

This week the government urged religious leaders to adhere to the restrictions, while Gauteng premier David Makhura said families wanting to conduct weddings should inform the police.

Eastern Cape couples who are soon to be betrothed have expressed anxiety at the possibility of postponing or cancelling their big day.

East London-born Kirsty Williams said she and her fiancé, Kyle Meyer, had set May 1 as their wedding date.

“The coronavirus outbreak has been unsettling and has caused much uncertainty in the planning,” Williams said. “Our wedding will be in an indoor venue in Pretoria and we’ve invited 80 guests. This is fewer than the suggested number but we don’t want to take any chances.

“We have family travelling from different parts of the country and we have to take that into consideration. We will make our final decision sometime next week as we closely monitor the developments surrounding the virus. If things worsen we will have to postpone the ceremony.”

She said some of her guests had expressed their concern about travelling for the wedding.

Another Eastern Cape couple, who asked to remain anonymous, said they were set to marry later this year but would wait until June to see if they could continue with the planning.

“Covid-19 is obviously making us a bit nervous but we are hoping that by December all of this will be over,” they said. “So for now we will maintain our original plan.

“We’ve had the conversation of a possibility of postponement to 2021 if things don’t improve.

“We both have big families and 100 people, including the wedding party, simply won’t work for us. The lobola has been paid and so we are married, so we feel there is no rush for the ceremony.”

Simon Amos-Brown, manager of popular East London wedding venue Gonubie Manor, said the coronavirus outbreak had scared off brides and grooms to be.

“We have had a number of wedding cancellations that were supposed to happen in May and April,” he said. “This has been very heavy on the business’s finances. A few have postponed.

“Those who cancelled were expecting up to 200 guests. Every day things seem to be getting worse with the virus but we can only hope things will subside and get better.”

Amos-Brown said his son, who is getting married on Saturday had to down scale his guest numbers.

“The wedding guest number was decreased from 130 to 50. This was done to prevent people from flying in. And so the wedding has turned into a private function, mostly for family,” he said.

East London systems administrator Lwando Shode, who now lives in Johannesburg, said he had cancelled his travel arrangements for a wedding he was supposed to attend this weekend.

“I was meant to fly down to East London but with the rise of Covid-19 cases in Johannesburg, we don’t know who has and who doesn’t have it.

“My friend’s wedding is still going on but I don’t want to risk a potential spread of the virus in the Eastern Cape. So until I get tested I’m not leaving Gauteng,” he said.

Most companies are allowing their employees to work from home, but this is not an option for domestic workers.
Image: 123rf.com/Csaba Deli
As Covid-19 continues to spread in SA and more people opt to work from home, the safety of domestic employees remains a cause for concern, and calls for employers to grant paid leave are mounting.

On Sunday, health minister Zweli Mkhize said there were 274 confirmed coronavirus cases in SA.

Domestic workers don’t have the option of working from home. Those who don’t live full time in the homes of their employers mostly rely on public transport to travel to and from work, which puts them at a higher risk of contracting the virus.

On Friday, United Domestic Workers of SA (Udwosa) president Pinky Mashiane said employers must grant their employees paid leave if they want them to stay in their own homes during the pandemic because these workers depend on their jobs to provide for their families.

Eunice Dhladhla, assistant general secretary of the SA Domestic Service and Allied Workers Union (Sadsawu), said employers who insist on having their employees come to work amid the pandemic must do so responsibly by providing sanitisers, gloves and masks to prevent the possibility of infection.

“The employers could still let their workers come to work, but must buy the correct items  to protect their workers.  Although there is the saying ‘no work, no pay’ there are domestic workers who will stay home not because they want to, but because they’re afraid of this illness.”

Department of employment and labour spokesperson Teboho Thejane said employers who granted leave to their domestic workers were legally obliged to pay them.

He said the department was looking into leave options employees could apply for while they practise self-isolation and social distancing.

“A number of leave provisions will be used to help those who might have to go on leave if they are affected. They can apply for special leave.” reported.

Here’s a glimpse into what some people had to say on Twitter:

Coronavirus is affecting every region of the world, and is spreading particularly fast in the US and Europe.
Image: 123RF/dikobrazik
SA had the 52nd most Covid-19 cases out of 167 countries and regions by noon on Monday, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In Africa, Egypt had the most at 327 cases, and SA had the next-highest confirmed number of cases.

More than 600 cases of Covid-19 had been confirmed in 34 countries in Africa by Thursday last week, said the World Health Organisation (WHO).SA fares well to date per million population infected, with five infected per million people, according to the Worldometer analysis.

This compares to 56 infections per million in China and 106 infections per million in the US.

China still has the highest total cases at 81,454 but the US numbers are rocketing upwards, with the third-highest number of 35,224 infections, according to Johns Hopkins.

Globally, 341,722 infections have been reported, and 14,765 deaths.

Nearly 100,000 of the people with confirmed Covid-19 have fully recovered.

The average age of South Africans with Covid-19 is 41.8 years. The youngest confirmed case is two years old and the oldest is 85, accordingMost local transmissions have been reported in Gauteng, at 12 out of 132 cases.

In the Western Cape there are seven local cases out of 29 confirmed infections, and in KwaZulu-Natal five out of 35 cases are local.

All continents except Antarctica have been hit by the global coronavirus pandemic.