Ramaphosa concludes his address.
LIVE BLOG: 600,000 people to receive unemployment grant soon - Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday engaged members of the South African National Editors forum as the industry feels crunch of COVID-19.
Ramaphosa says that the delay in the payment of the R350 unemployment grants was met with technical glitches, which resulted in many applicants still being not paid.
Ramaphosa says the Social Development Department has assured him that it was currently processing almost 600,000 people in the next few days.
Asked who had initially advised the NCC on the lifting of the ban on cigarettes and sale of tobacco before the decision was changed, Ramaphosa says they relied on a variety of advice.
"There are a number of doctors and experts who have advised us on the dangers of smoking cigarettes."
Ramaphosa said they then looked at a point of when government could ease restriction on the sale of cigarette.
He said the change on the lift on the sale came after a "flurry" of many South Africans objecting to the sale of cigarettes.
Suppliers in China will make available up to 30 million test kitsm, 10,000 ventilators and 80 million masks per month for Africa. These will be accessed from a central platform which will be launched in the new week. South African suppliers making masks and ventilators will be included on the platform.
President Ramaphosa says there are over 13 million people in the country who have been screened, and of those 188,00 had been refered to testing. He says 710,000 South Africans who had been referred through the community screening process - he said this was a phenomenal achievement when compared to other countries on the continent.
The President acknowledges the challenges media organisations are faced with, inviting Sanef to engage governement to see how they can assist without intefering with the media. He says, "Rather than stay out there and see media houses collapsing, let's have a discussion and see what it is that can be done."
President Cyril Ramaphosa has assured the media that he is open to engaging the media. Adding that today's engagement happens on the eve of the easing of the lockdown to level 3, which is a significant shift. He says this is a useful opportunity to reflect, look at the road ahead and thank the media for its contributions to the fight against the virus.