In an attempt to combat the spread of the Covid-19 coronavirus, South Africa has introduced new restriction including making the wearing of masks outdoors mandatory and a temporarily ban on alcohol sales. A night time curfew between 21:00 and 04:00 local time has also been imposed. In addition, the nation's state of emergency will be extended until August 15th, 2020, and may be extended further depending on the condition then.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that the country's second alcohol ban was designed to reduce pressure on the national healthcare system and further discourage people from making trips from home. President Ramaphosa acknowledged in a public address that "most" people have been following protocols to help reduce the viral transmission though he also said that some people have acted "without any responsibility to respect and protect each other".

As of now, South Africa has reported over 276,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus alongside 4,079 Covid-19-related mortalities. About 135,000 people have recovered so far. South Africa accounts for about 40% of all Covid-19 cases in Africa, with about 30% of the nation's cases concentrated in the Gauteng province, which includes the capital city of Pretoria and the highly populated city of Johannesburg.

Note: The Covid-19 coronavirus statistics and numbers were retrieved from the South African National Department of Health (http://www.health.gov.za/) and are accurate as of 18:30 local Vancouver time on July 12th, 2020. All photos used in this article were retrieved from the public domain and thus do not require attribution or citation for commercial use.