The Covid-19 death toll has hit 1 737, while the number of cases now sits at 83 890.

The total number of recoveries is now 44 920.

Here are today’s top stories

The Western Cape - the country’s Covid-19 epicentre - is expecting to hit its peak of cases in the coming weeks, the provincial government has said. Meanwhile, the province has managed to clear its testing backlog, which was reportedly around 96 000 tests.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape government believes the influx of tourists in the province may have led to it seeing an faster peak of Covid-19 cases in relation to the other provinces.

Limpopo is facing a sudden surge in Covid-19 cases, and this has prompted questions about whether people and organisations have been properly adhering to safety protocols.

Covid-19 outbreaks at Western Cape retirement homes is taking a toll on the elderly and staff members. Care workers told us that they were struggling with the stress of keeping elderly residents and staff safe.

A fifth nun has died at an Eastern Cape convent which is suffering a Covid-19 outbreak. The Precious Blood Sisters convent, which doubles as an old age home, has now been turned into a quarantine site.

China has restricted travel for a section of its population as it attempts to rein in a possible second wave of Covid-19 outbreaks. The country has already locked down parts of Beijing and made several restrictions to curb a possible outbreak.

And finally, some local casinos will be removing the seat of every second slot machine and enforcing physical distancing - and hotel staff will not handle luggage, as those sectors prepare to reopen. Some establishments will do temperature screenings and disinfect rooms once patrons check out.

Stay informed with News24

Special report | We remember those who died of Covid-19
New Level 3 regulations | Here’s what will be allowed going forward
Stay safe | Advice for keeping safe in supermarkets, schools and on public transport
FAQs | News24 answers all your questions
Checklist | These are the first symptoms
Rolling coverage | All the latest Covid-19 news in one place

- Compiled by Kerushun Pillay

No flowers, disinfected chips and paper menus — here’s how Sun hotels, casinos will re-open

After being closed for almost three months, Sun International hotels and casinos are preparing to re-open. On Wednesday, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announced that restaurants and casinos can do business during Level 3 of lockdown. 

No date has been given for when these establishments will be allowed to open. Sun International will stagger the re-opening of its hotels and casinos – including Sun City, Boardwalk, Carnival City, The Maslow Sandton, Wild Coast Sun, GrandWest and The Table Bay Hotel – as soon as the date is announced.

In preparation, every second seat at casino slot machines and tables has been removed to create space between customers.

Pictured: Two showgirls pose for a photo at the reopening of Flamingo Las Vegas. (Denise Truscello/Getty Images for Caesars Entertainment)

Trevor Manuel's mother, Philma, dies of Covid-19, aged 94

Philma Manuel turned 94 on Sunday. She died on Thursday.

According to a statement issued by the ANC in the Western Cape, Philma Manuel was a garment worker who was widowed when her husband died in 1969. At the time, Trevor Manuel was 13.

She raised Trevor and his sisters, Pamela, Beryl and Renecia, as a single parent.

Health workers sound alarm bells as virus spirals

Health workers across the Western Cape and Eastern Cape are struggling with a surge in coronavirus patients as the country hurtles towards an expected disease peak in July.

The Eastern Cape has recorded the third-highest number of coronavirus infections in South Africa, accounting for nearly one in seven cases.

Health officials claim the disease spread from neighbouring Western Cape province, home to almost 60% of cases and around three-quarters of registered deaths.

Ramaphosa takes 'rain check' when quizzed about Covid-19 corruption

President Cyril Ramaphosa took a "rain check" when asked how many ANC councillors have been arrested for Covid-19-related corruption and challenged any Chapter 9 institution to approach the Constitutional Court if they feel the executive interferes in their functioning.

Ramaphosa was responding to questions during a hybrid sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday afternoon when DA interim leader John Steenhuisen asked him how many ANC councillors have been arrested for corruption with the distribution of food parcels.

Malema accuses Ramaphosa of putting profits before people

EFF leader Julius Malema has accused President Cyril Ramaphosa of putting profits before lives by easing Covid-19 lockdown restrictions.

Malema said: "We are more than convinced that we are not following any scientific advice. You are following business to maximise profits all the time. You are sitting comfortably in your home and you tell children to go to school. Do you have any advice how many people are going to die of this pandemic?

Ramaphosa: SA's economic recovery must be 'state-led'

Likening the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic to those of a war, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that SA's economic recovery must be "state-led".

The president was replying to a question about what form SA's economic recovery would take in the National Assembly via a virtual platform. 

Springboks assist with packing food parcels in Cape Town

A delegation of eight national players and coaches, which included the Springbok captain Siya Kolisi packed food parcels for the poor. Kolisi said that they are eager to make a difference and help those struggling during the coronavirus pandemic.

"Our presence here is just a thank you, really, and to help out where we can as a team and to say to the people of South Africa that we are with you," said Kolisi.

Makhura not ruling out closing sectors in Gauteng if infections become uncontrollable

Gauteng Premier David Makhura says his government would be in a "difficult position" if it were to push for the closure of certain sectors, but it would do so if Covid-19 infections became uncontrollable.

He told the Gauteng legislature during a sitting on Thursday that the country's economic hub would be in the midst of the pandemic's surge within the next two months. He expected it to be "tough".

RUNDOWN | Lockdown was 'correct decision', says Ramaphosa as economic recovery plan gets going

During the hybrid sitting of the National Assembly on Thursday, President Cyril Ramaphosa was called on time and again to explain the rationale behind the initial nationwide lockdown, and the subsequent easing of the various alert levels of lockdown.

"Government’s response to the Covid-19 pandemic has been informed by the advice of scientists of diverse disciplines belonging to the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC); underpinned by the experiences of other countries, as well as guidance from the World Health Organisation (WHO) and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID)," he said.

ANC MP and chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Health Sibongiseni Dhlomo asked what would have happened if the country not been placed under lockdown.

Ramaphosa answered that infections and deaths would have been substantially higher.

"It was a collective decision, and it turns out it was the correct decision," he said.

He also said that in deciding on when to begin the gradual and systematic easing of the lockdown, government was guided by the views of the scientists, the experience of other countries and broader consultations.

He would repeat some of these answers during supplementary questions from several MPs.

Ramaphosa began by revealing that government has started a process of implementing an economic recovery plan, which will focus on preserving the livelihoods of South Africans and saving lives.

"It is important that we approach [the economic recovery plan] through the balanced strategy that we have decided on: to save lives on the one side, and also to preserve livelihoods. It becomes a very delicate balance but it is a balance that has to be struck because in the end, we cannot overemphasize the one at the expense of the other," he said.

Economists have predicted that the economic shock of the pandemic will cause South Africa's GDP to decline by between 5% and 10%, exacerbating South Africa's already dire unemployment rate.  

"I have often said we need to look at the post-Covid economic landscape as being equivalent to a post-war economic landscape." 

"The state has to play a critical role. Even in your more conservative countries in the world are saying the state now needs to play its role."

To that end, next week, the president will be meeting with funders, policy markets, state-owned enterprises, academics and members of the private sector to look at investment opportunities in infrastructure.  

"We should see infrastructure investment as a mobiliser of growth," he said. 

Infrastructure would make up a "significant part" of the stimulus SA's economy needs, he added.  

Covid-19: No information was withheld from public, Ramaphosa tells Parliament

President Cyril Ramaphosa has denied that Covid-19 information was withheld from South Africans. This comes after DA interim leader John Steenhuisen described the lockdown as the "longest, hardest and most brutal lockdown in the world".

"There is just no reason why any information – modelling or otherwise – shouldn't be disclosed," Ramaphosa said. He said they hadn't shied away from differing opinions from the scientific community either.

Eastern Cape health dept turns convent into quarantine site as fifth nun dies

Another elderly nun has died after contracting Covid-19 at the Precious Blood Sisters convent in Mthatha, bringing the death toll to five in a space of nine days.

This has prompted the Eastern Cape department of health to turn the convent into a quarantine site.    

Covid-19 wrap: Hong Kong Disneyland reopens, Chinese county limits travel as Beijing fights outbreak

- Hong Kong Disneyland has reopened after nearly five months of closure during the coronavirus pandemic.

- Japan's government has urged citizens to install the coronavirus-tracing app, launching on Friday, pledging that the system’s not invasive. 

- Activists say single-use plastic waste in Thailand ballooned during the coronavirus lockdown as demand for home food deliveries soared.

Mixed views from opposition parties as Ramaphosa opens more sectors of the economy

Political parties have criticised President Cyril Ramaphosa's decision to open more sectors of the economy under Alert Level 3 of the lockdown.

The president delivered an address to the nation on Wednesday evening, announcing that several sectors, including the personal care industry, restaurants, cinemas, casinos and non-contact sport, could go back to work, provided that they adhere to safety and prevention protocols to combat the spread of Covid-19.

Covid-19 wrap: US daily deaths below 1 000, Honduran president hospitalised after testing positive

- The United States recorded 840 deaths from the new coronavirus in the past 24 hours.

- Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez is undergoing treatment in hospital for pneumonia after he tested positive for Covid-19.

- Turkish authorities ordered that people wear masks in public in Istanbul and the capital Ankara as new coronavirus cases rose sharply.

'I'm on my knees every day, praying': Covid-19 lockdown taking its toll on retirement homes

When Legato retirement village in Durbanville lost one of its residents to Covid-19, it hit residents hard as they had not had a single case for the first two months of the lockdown. The resident, understood to have been in her nineties, died last month. Another, who had tested positive for the virus during a hospital stay, also died. Two others and six staff members had to self-isolate and go into quarantine.

Illegal cigarettes are 'more profitable than heroin'. Here's how they're getting into SA

Smugglers have an extensive network already set up for moving illicit tobacco products around the country, experts say, and that is how illegal cigarettes are still appearing in spaza shops and corner cafés, even after more than 80 days of sales being banned.

EXPLAINER | Easing lockdown: 10 things you need to know from Ramaphosa's speech

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday evening announced that restaurants and hair salons, among others, will be allowed to reopen under Level 3 of the Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa.

Junior miners fight for survival in coronavirus storm

While the mining industry overall was hard hit by the coronavirus pandemic, it is junior miners who sustained the heaviest blows - with some fighting to survive as their viability is threatened.

Coronavirus morning update: Lockdown latest - further easing of Level 3 restrictions

The president has announced the further easing of lockdown regulations - with casinos, theatres and hairdressers to return.

EXPLAINER | Here are all the businesses Ramaphosa announced will be allowed to reopen

In an address on Wednesday evening, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced hair salons and restaurants, among others, will be allowed to reopen during the Level 3 lockdown.

WRAP | Ramaphosa announces more sectors to reopen, talks tough on gender-based violence

President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced that sit-in restaurants and the grooming and personal care sector will resume for business soon, as the country moves to reopen more economic sectors.

Ramaphosa said cabinet has decided to ease restrictions on restaurants for sit-down meals, accommodation facilities, conference facilities, cinemas and theatres, casinos, personal care services (including hairdressers and beauty services), non-contact sports, contact sports (but only for training).

Ramaphosa said these activities will be permitted but with stringent rules, which will be announced in due course. The dates for reopening will be communicated soon.

He said, as the country gradually opens up, the risk of infection "inevitably increases". He added, however, the risk of infection is not inevitable, saying that one's behaviour can determine whether they contract the virus. He reminded the public to wear a mask.

South Africa remains at lockdown #level 3, however, additional sectors of our economy will now be allowed to reopen provided that strict measures are in place to ensure physical distancing and personal hygiene. #COVID19SA #CoronavirusUpdate pic.twitter.com/chfhaqalZD

— DIRCO South Africa (@DIRCO_ZA) June 17, 2020

Ramaphosa's address followed a number of meetings of the Cabinet, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and the Presidential Coordinating Council.

Speaking about the spread of Covid-19 in the country, Ramaphosa says the number of infections was doubling every two days before the lockdown. Once Level 5 began, the number of cases doubled every 15 days. Now, it doubles about every 12 days.

The President said nearly a third of all confirmed cases have been recorded in the past week alone, owing to more activity because of Level 3 lockdown.

The President, meanwhile, announced that there have been 1 674 Covid-19 deaths and 80 412 confirmed cases.

'War waged against women'

Ramaphosa also took the opportunity to talk tough on gender-based violence, which has hit headlines in the past week after the gruesome deaths of several women.

He said "with the heaviest heart" that women in the country are facing violence from men. He said he is "appalled" at a "war" being waged against women and children in the country, and that violence is being "unleashed on the women and children... with a brutality that defies any form of comprehension."

He said 21 women and children have been killed in the past few weeks. He recites the names of women, whose deaths have hit headlines over the past week, who were killed by men.

“These women are just not statistics", he said, adding that our “hearts, thoughts and prayers are with them”. He commended the police for arresting almost all of the alleged perpetrators.

He said the country now has a national plan to combat gender-based violence. He reminded the country of the GBV hotline available during the lockdown.

He assured the women and children of SA that the justice system will focus on issues of GBV, and ensured more arrests in these incidents to follow. He says the court sentences must reflect the seriousness of GBV.

He said the country is facing a coronavirus epidemic and a gender-based violence epidemic. He called on the public to act responsibly and take care of one another.

"The road ahead will be long and difficult, but the task of recovery will also be long and considerable,” he said.

'More people will be able to work'

Business for South Africa, meanwhile, welcomed the reopening of more of the economy.

The organisation’s Martin Kingston said: "The move to these enhanced level 3 regulations will allow more businesses to open, more people to work, and more services to be delivered to the public.

"Increased economic activity will heighten the risk of transmission and we repeat our call for each person in every workplace or social gathering to adhere to the health and hygiene protocols. We must all change our behaviour to protect not only ourselves, but our families, colleagues, friends, and communities. We are responsible for protecting them."

- Kerushun Pillay

While we wait for the President’s address…

Here are some stories from today that you may have missed:

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has labelled a new Covid-19 treatment trial a “breakthrough”. Results of a trial of low-dose dexamethasone were said to be “extremely promising and easily implementable” in the country. On Tuesday, a similar trial in the UK was said to have shown positive signs.

Four nuns have died and another 17 have contracted Covid-19 at a convent in Mthatha in the Eastern Cape, which doubles as an old age home. All the deceased nuns aged over 60.

The famous sardine run in KwaZulu-Natal is once again in full swing - but this time at “closed” beaches. Those who attended the mad fishing rush had to wear protective masks. The beaches are closed to the general public. Sardines have been spotted on the south coast of the province.

Labour offices temporarily closed in the Western Cape due to Covid-19

Two labour centres and a satellite office in the Western Cape have been temporarily closed due to Covid-19.

The Mitchells Plain Labour Centre and its satellite office in Nyanga will remain closed for an additional week after an employee tested positive for Covid-19.

The Paarl Labour Centre will also be closed from Wednesday following a confirmed case of the virus.

President Cyril Ramaphosa will address the nation at 20:00 this evening on developments in South Africa’s risk-adjusted strategy to manage the spread of Covid-19, the Presidency said in a statement.

Ramaphosa's address follows a number of meetings of the Cabinet, the National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) and the Presidential Coordinating Council.

New Zealand military to oversee new arrivals after two travellers tested positive for Covid-19

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has called the decision to allow two arrivals from the UK travel the country without being tested for Covid-19 "an unacceptable failure of the system," and put the military in charge of quarantining people at the border from now on.

Covid-19: Handwashing steps for young children and teens

It's been about three months since the first case of coronavirus was confirmed in South Africa, and we've since all become accustomed to keeping our hands as clean as possible. 

With schools reopening, it's become more important to reinforce safety measures.

Here's a look at a few resources teachers can use as visual reminders for young children and teens. 

Nelson Mandela Bay acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye in quarantine after bodyguard dies of Covid-19

Acting mayor Thsonono Buyeye has sent his deepest condolences to the family of his bodyguard who died of Covid-19.

The mayor and his staff have gone into a 14-day quarantine period following the news.

All about dexamethasone, which researchers say is a 'breakthrough' Covid-19 treatment

Researchers led by a team from the University of Oxford administered the widely available drug to more than 2 000 severely ill Covid-19 patients, mostly on ventilators. Deaths of those patients were reduced by 35%.

Headache, dizziness before fever may signal Covid-19 and affect entire nervous system

It appears that Covid-19 may affect a patient’s entire nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord, a new study revealed.

This is how ad agencies in SA continued to make TV ads while under Covid-19 lockdown

Almost as soon as South Africa’s national lockdown shuttered all but essential business, airwaves filled with ominous tones, eerily upbeat jingles, and stern presidential speech voice overs of lockdown-themed commercials. 

To make allowances for the new restrictions, agencies reduced crews and used a series of tricks and techniques to hide any gaps the Covid-19 limitations might have presented. 

'Breakthrough' in Covid-19 treatment is extremely promising, says Zweli Mkhize

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said he was "extremely excited" that there has been an important breakthrough in one of the therapeutic trials for Covid-19 management.

Mkhize said dexamethasone is a well-known and widely used steroid which has potent anti-inflammatory properties.

Covid-19: Four nuns die, 17 more test positive as coronavirus hits Mthatha convent

• A convent in Mthatha, which doubles up as an old age home, has been devastated by the spread of Covid-19.

• Four nuns who died there are all over the age of 60.

• A nun who works as a nurse at Life St Mary's Hospital in Mthatha has been identified as the source of the virus.

Covid-19: Free State clinic shut down after staff member tests positive

• Another Free State health facility has closed its doors temporarily after one of its staff members tested positive for Covid-19.

• The Dr Che Guevara Community Health Centre in Sasolburg has been temporarily closed for decontamination.

• The province had by Tuesday recorded 578 Covid-19 cases and nine deaths.