Government

Ramaphosa calls US president Donald Trump over virus

Staff Writer

 ·24 Apr 2020

South African president Cyril Ramaphosa has said that he contacted US president, Donald Trump, to discuss the current impact of the Covid-19 coronavirus on both countries.

It comes as the US continues to be hardest hit by the virus, with 886,709, infections, 50,243 deaths, and 85,922 recoveries.

Ramaphosa said that his US counterpart has pledged his support to South Africa and to Africa in the fight against the virus.

The South African president said he spoke to Trump earlier Thursday by phone, according to a brief note on his Twitter account.

President Trump @POTUS has pledged his support to South Africa and to Africa in our fight against the #coronavirus

— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 #StayHome (@CyrilRamaphosa) April 23, 2020

On Thursday, the United States government, through the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), pledged a further R250 million to support South Africa’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

This brings this total US government commitment to the Covid-19 response in South Africa to over R410 million, following previous pledges delivered over the last month.

South Africa, meanwhile will begin a gradual and phased recovery of economic activity from 30 April.

In a national address on Thursday evening (23 April), the president said a lockdown remains the best way to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, but it cannot be sustained indefinitely.

“Beyond the 30th of April, we will begin a phased and gradual return to economic activity,” he said.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize has confirmed that there are now 3,953 positive Covid-19 cases in South Africa, with the country experiencing its biggest daily climb in numbers to date.

This is up from 3,635 Covid-19 cases announced on Wednesday by the minister, meaning a rise of 318 cases over the past 24-hours.

According to Mkhize, while the large jump in numbers is concerning, it also comes as community screening and testing has ramped up significantly. So far, over 3.6 million people have been screened for the virus, with 24,174 sent for testing.

The total number of tests done to date are at 143,570, with total recoveries at 1,473.

The number of deaths has also increased, with 10 more people losing their lives to the virus, taking the total to 75.

Read: US announces a further R250 million in coronavirus support for South Africa