Introduction
The Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak was
declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation
(WHO) on 11 March 2020.
On 15 March 2020, in response to the magnitude and severity of
the COVID-19 outbreak, South Africa declared a national state of
disaster and President Cyril Ramaphosa announced significant
measures that would be put in place in an attempt to inhibit the
spread of COVID-19 in South Africa.
On 18 March 2020, regulations promulgated by the Minister of
Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs in accordance with
the National Disaster Management Act 57 of 2002, came into effect
(Regulations).
On 23 March 2020, President Ramaphosa declared that there would
be a national lockdown from 23:59 on 26 March 2020 for a period of
21 days until 23h59 on 16 April 2020 (Lockdown). On 25 March 2020,
amendments were made to the Regulations through a further set of
regulations made by the Minister (Amendment
Regulations). The Amendment
