The famous Cape Town suburb of Bo-Kaap is on lockdown due to coronavirus fears.
Residents in the neighourhood, renown for it’s Cape Malay heritage and brightly coloured houses on the slopes of Signal Hill, have been closing up shops and cancelling appointments with tour guides who frequent the area in droves every day.
This announcement comes as South Africa’s coronavirus caseload increased to 116 people overnight.
Risk from tourism influx
Because the suburb is such a popular aspect of a quintessential experience of Cape Town for tourists, the community feels like it simply cannot take the risk of having guests from abroad bring coronavirus to its doorsteps.
Chairperson of the Bo-Kaap Civic and Ratepayers Association, Osman Shaboodien, sent a letter to the tourism industry explaining the resident’s position.
“As Bo-Kaap is a tourist destination we are more prone than other areas to get into contact with tourist from high-risk countries. We, therefore, place the tourism industry and government on notice that Bo-Kaap will be on lockdown and no tourist will be allowed into our area,” Shaboodien said.
“This is for their health and the health of the Bo-Kaap community.”
“We have lots of busses coming through Bo-Kaap. We felt that the announcement was necessary after President Cyril Ramaphosa declared a national state of disaster, as a precautionary measure.”
Elderly community
He said that because there were many elderly people living in Bo-Kaap, the community was particularly susceptible to the virus and at greater risk of it’s most severe symptoms.
“In Bo-Kaap, the age demographic is around 60-62 average age of residents who are very susceptible to the virus.”
Source: The South African Read More“We understand that some residents are involved in the tourism sector so it’s not going to be easy and the decision was not taken lightly, but will be the best for our community.”
