Lerato Mailoane
The Gauteng Provincial Government is preparing to move to level 3 lockdown restrictions which will see more economic activity resuming.
Responding to questions during the legislature's first virtual House sitting on Tuesday, 19 May 2020, Premier Makhura said the provincial government will be meeting with stakeholders in preparation of Gauteng's move to level 3 of the lockdown.
"We cannot have a lockdown at this level for long. We are meeting with various sectors of the economy tomorrow. We want to move to Level 3 in a more cautious way, balancing health and economic imperatives, "said Makhura.
Makhura, also noted that the provincial government is working with all sectors of the economy to access the stimulus package provided by national government and assist struggling business to have access to Small, Medium and Macro Enterprises (SMME) Fund.
Makhura added that the province would not go to level 3 in a disjointed way.
 "We cannot have one municipality or metro on level 4 and others on level 3 or 2. The districts are highly integrated. We are going to level 3 together," said Makhura.
Makhura said it was encouraging that there was clear evidence that the establishment of the Provincial Command Council managed to slow down the spread of COVID-19.
As a result, Gauteng now has less than 15% of confirmed cases of the virus in the country.
"We have the highest recovery rate of all the provinces in the country, averaging 70%. We have the largest number of tests done at 33% in Gauteng. We have also screened more than four million people and we also have the lowest mortality rate of 1.1% with 26 fatalities recorded to date.
Makhura however cautioned that the peak may come in July,August or September.  "We are ready for the peak as we have expanded the capacity of our healthcare services by employing more health officials,upgrading our facilities and setting up temporary structures to  serve as isolation and  quarantine sites," he said.