South African Airways (SAA) is in business rescue, but the government and trade unions have been in talks about establishing a new national carrier, which is financially viable.

The National Treasury and the South African Revenue Service briefed Parliament’s finance committees on their annual strategic plans and budgets.

The passage of crucial Budget legislation has been delayed but Treasury says it is critical that it is passed soon so that a revised Budget can be tabled.

Finance Minister Tito Mboweni told Parliament’s finance committees that the lockdown had brought the economy to a virtual standstill and that the government could not collect revenue.

While the national legislature has resumed its work, this mostly involves virtual meetings of committees, with only limited success.

President Cyril Ramaphosa last week said cigarettes would be on sale from 1 May, but this was rolled back when COGTA Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said the ban would remain in place.

The aim is to reopen the country’s nearly 25,000 public and independent schools gradually, starting with matrics and grade 7s on 18 May and – with two-week intervals – opening up to lower grades over the course of the next three months.

Parliament’s education committees were on Wednesday briefed on the department’s plan for the phased reopening of schools.

Schools will have to follow and implement strict measures such as daily screenings and social distancing.

All restaurants, including shisanyamas, have been forced to close their doors since the lockdown began last month, putting thousands of jobs and livelihoods at risk.

Government ministers spelled out the strict new rules during a marathon briefing in Pretoria on Wednesday night.

Fisheries and forestry are two of the sectors declared exempt from the national lockdown starting at midnight on Thursday due to the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19).

Treasury Director-General Dondo Mogajane said the Appropriations Bill may need amending as the government sought to manage its finances and deal with spending pressures caused by the coronavirus pandemic.

With small, medium and micro-enterprises set to be hardest hit by the national shutdown, there was fury at the suggestion that only companies that are majority black-owned would qualify for government assistance.

Companies will have to show their businesses have been hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The fund, kick-started by donations of R1 billion each from the Rupert and Oppenheimer families, is intended to help mobilise business and civil society to back government efforts to contain the spread of COVID-19.

The health minister said he will be meeting with sports bodies and churches in order to inform them about the coronavirus outbreak.

South Africa is now in the containment stage of the epidemic, which has infected about 95,000 people worldwide - 80,000 of them in China.