Own Correspondent
Cyril Ramaphosa The South African Presidency has announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa will address that nation at 8pm on Thursday on developments in South Africa’s risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of COVID-19.
The President’s address follows a number of meetings of the Cabinet and the National Coronavirus Command Council.
Some unions, parents and pupils are keen to hear if he will announce that schools will be completely closed, and for how long.
South Africans have been locked in a charged debate on whether more pupils should return to class as the country approaches the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Supporters of the move say children would be low-risk patients if they contracted the virus, while critics insist that more pupils at schools would exacerbate the outbreak.
South Africa’s COVID-19 pandemic is now among the worst in the world – with an unprecedented 572 deaths recorded in the past 24-hour cycle.
COVID-19 has infected almost 400,000 South Africans and 5,940 people have died from the disease.
Teacher unions are divided, but some say the accelerating infection rate should be used as a sign to put the brakes on the academic calendar.
The National Professional Teachers’ Organisation of South Africa is calling for contact classes to be halted for about at least a month.
If schools do close, speculation is rife that matric pupils would be among the first to return, while all other grades would again be phased in.
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