(Bloomberg) -- South African President Cyril Ramaphosa warned that the coronavirus will be present in the country for at least a year and that infections will rise as lockdown restrictions are eased.
The government will step up efforts on screening, testing and case management to help contain the virus, Ramaphosa said in a statement on Monday. Contact tracing will be made more effective, while workplaces and public transport will be sanitized, he said.
South Africa is in process of easing a strict lockdown introduced in late March to help slow the rate of Covid-19 infections and prepare the health-care system for an expected surge over the next few months. The country has reported more than 10,000 confirmed cases and 194 deaths.
