Alert Levels – What Do They Mean?

Please note that much of this information will still need to be confirmed by the government.

At level 5, with high virus spread, and/or low health system readiness, only essential services will be allowed.

• Bus services, taxi services, e-hailing and private motor vehicles may operate at restricted times, with limitations on vehicle capacity and stringent hygiene requirements.

• No inter-provincial movement of people, except for transportation of goods and exceptional circumstances (e.g. funerals).

At level 4, with moderate to high virus spread, and with moderate readiness, all essential services will be allowed, plus:

• Food retail stores already permitted to be open permitted may sell full line of products within existing stock.
• All agriculture (horticulture, export agriculture including wool and wine, floriculture and horticulture, and related processing).
• Forestry, pulp and paper.
• Mining (open cast mines at 100% capacity, all other mines at 50%).
• All financial and professional services, global business services for export markets.
• Postal and telecommunications services.
• Fibre optic and IT services.
• Formal waste recycling (glass, plastic, paper and metal).
• Bus services, taxi services, e-hailing and private motor vehicles may operate at all times of the day, with limitations on vehicle capacity and stringent hygiene requirements.
• No inter-provincial movement of people, except for transportation of goods and exceptional circumstances (e.g. funerals).

At level 3, with moderate virus spread, and moderate readiness, the following will be allowed:

• Licensing and permitting services, deeds offices and other government services designated by the Minister of Public Service and Administration.
• Take-away restaurants and online food delivery.
• Liquor retail within restricted hours.
• Clothing retail.
• Hardware stores.
• Stationery, personal electronics and office equipment production and retail.
• Books and educational products.
• E-commerce and delivery services.
• Clothing and textiles manufacturing (at 50% capacity).
• Automotive manufacturing.
• Chemicals.
• Bottling.
• Cement and steel.
• Machinery and equipment.
• Global Business Services.
• SANRAL construction and maintenance.
• Transnet at 100%.
• Bus services, taxi services, e-hailing and private motor vehicles may operate at all times of the day, with limitations on vehicle capacity and stringent hygiene requirements.
• Limited passenger rail restored, with stringent hygiene conditions in place.
• Limited domestic air travel, with a restriction on the number of flights per day and authorisation based on the reason for travel.
• No inter-provincial movement of people, except for transportation of goods and exceptional circumstances (e.g. funerals).

At level 2, with moderate virus spread, and with high readiness, the following will be permitted:

• Construction.
• All other retail.
• All other manufacturing
• Mining (all mines at 100% capacity).
• All government services Installation, repairs and maintenance.
• Domestic work and cleaning services.
• Informal waste-pickers.
• Domestic air travel restored.
• Car rental services restored.
• Movement between provinces at level 1 and 2 restrictions.

At level 1, with low virus spread, and high health system readiness:

• All sectors.
• All modes of transport, with stringent hygiene conditions in place.
• Interprovincial movement allowed, with restrictions on international travel.

To make the determination of which sectors should be allowed to resume activity at each level of alert, three criteria will be considered:

• Risk of transmission (including the ease of implementing mitigation measures).
• Expected impact on the sector of continued lockdown (including prior vulnerability).
• Value of the sector to the economy (e.g. contribution to GDP, multiplier effects, export earnings).

Any decision about whether to institute a lower alert level will be made by the National Command Council based on evidence gathered during the week about the spread of the virus.

Read the full article on The Citizen’s website:
FULL SPEECH: Lockdown to be eased from start of May, with 5 levels to guide activities