The Green Point Urban Park is among the many places that have been closed as the country prepares to go into lockdown tonight.
Mayor Dan Plato said last week that after much deliberation, taking into account the high volumes of visitors to facilities such as the park, they had decided to temporarily close them in an effort to reduce the spread of Covid-19.
“We know that this will prove inconvenient for some of our residents. But in the interest of containing this highly contagious virus and for the protection of all our residents, we trust our residents will understand the need for these measures,” he said.
The City of Cape Town has also closed beaches to limit public contact and the spread of Covid-19.
Mayor Dan Plato said that until further notice, beaches along Cape Town’s coastline would be closed for all activities be it on the beach itself or in the water.
Swimming, surfing, kite-surfing, kayaking, recreational fishing, and any other beach or water-based activity are prohibited.
“We are in the midst of an unprecedented period that calls for greater awareness and interventions. We have seen around the world how members of the public have flocked to beaches during this critical time and we want to ensure that residents and visitors are not placing themselves at increased risk by congregating in large numbers at beaches,” Mr Plato said.
Law enforcement would be doing patrols to ensure compliance, he said.
The shark spotting programme has also been stopped and shark spotters are no longer on duty at any beaches.
“We need to practice social distancing if we are going to limit the impact of the Covid-19 virus. If we do not practise social distancing the impact of this virus will be far worse. Our disaster risk management staff will continue with their soap hand-out drive in informal settlements, and do loud-hailing in our communities, to draw attention to the serious Covid-19 measures that have been put in place, and how our residents can play their part to limit the spread of the virus,” Mr Plato said.
“We are regularly updated by national and provincial government about the latest measures to be implemented and are fully supporting them by implementing these measures as quickly as possible.”
Subsequent to this announcement, President Cyril Ramaphosa also announced that as of midnight tonight, Thurday March 26, a national lockdown would be in place until Thursday April 16.