President Cyril Ramaphosa has tested negative for coronavirus.
He went for testing as a precautionary measure upon the advice of his physicians on Tuesday and received his results on Wednesday night.
As Head of State and Chair of the National Command Council, Ramaphosa has a rigorous public engagements schedule.
In the last few weeks, he has held numerous meetings with people from all walks of life.
The Presidency has deemed it necessary to make the test results public to reassure the nation that he is in good health.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has also called on all South Africans to pray on Thursday evening between 6 PM and 6:30 PM in response to the pandemic.
This will be six hours before the 21-day nationwide lockdown declared to help curb the spread of the virus.
Currently the country has recorded 709 infections and there are fears this could increase.
Ramaphosa says this is the moment when South Africans need to act together as one patriotic nation in solidarity with all those affected or impacted by Covid-19, not just in South Africa but around the world.
“These are challenging times. We are traversing a path we have never travelled before. There are many amongst us who are fearful, uncertain and vulnerable. I call on our people to offer a prayer and a thought for the protection and healing of our land and its people from this disease,” Ramaphosa says.
“Over the past two weeks, South Africans from all walks of life have demonstrated their resilience by complying with the restrictions that have been placed on their lives. Because we are in a state of national lockdown our prayers must be offered from our hearts and in our homes,” he says.
