INTERVIEW: Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says random screening will be conducted at all taxi ranks and on trains while taxis will be sanitised amid the 62 confirmed cases of coronavirus in the country. We’re joined on the line by Ayanda Allie Payne, Transport Department spokesperson

Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula says safety measures have been greatly intensified at airlines.

Minister of Home Affairs Aaron Motsoaledi says the closure of some of the ports of entry in the country will have no impact on commerce. He says controls are being placed on human movement and not goods entry. He also says the Beitbridge border post will remain open because it is the only border to Zimbabwe and is the gateway for South Africa to the rest of the continent.

Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA), Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma says the declaration of a National State of Disaster due to COVID 19 will have huge implications for the Independent Electoral System. Dlamini-Zuma says the way which we are currently dealing with elections needs to change.

Minister of Trade and Industry, Ebrahim Patel says they are meeting with business and labour later today to chart a way forward....

Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni says funds have been set aside to deal with the virus, and we will have to spend more going forward....

The Minister of Basic Education, Angie Motshekga says they will be losing 10 schooling days and that should the closures continue beyond the stipulated time- the dapartment might have to extend the schooling year...

The Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande says there is an agreement in place that contact lectures have to be limited at the institutions of higher learning. However, they are yet issued a directive for universities to shutdown...

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Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has retracted earlier reports of a corona virus case in the Free State reducing the number of people infected in the country from 17 to 16. He has also announced that the 14 Limpopo students who returned from China recently have all tested negative for the virus. Mkhize was speaking at the Ranch Hotel and Resort during a joint media briefing of the inter-ministerial team on the coronavirus . He also announced the Ranch Hotel and Resort as an official quarantine area for 121 South African who are been repatriated from China by the SANDF. Rudzani Tshivhase reports.We also spoke to our reporter Katlego Nyoni