"We are under no illusion that public transport remains one of the high risk areas in the spread of the Covid-19 virus, and our interventions must be always seek to arrest the spread of the Covid-19," he said.

"Our country's socio-economic dynamics require that we continuously evaluate the measures we put in place and make adjustment where we believe we are not realising the lockdown objectives."  

He said minibus taxis and buses were allowed to operate throughout the days this week to accommodate those who were getting their social grants.

"This concession expired at 20h00 this evening. As of Saturday 4 April 2020, public transport operating hours will return to the morning and afternoon peak times, with slight amendments," he said.

Taxis were expected to operate from 5am until 1am and again from 4pm up to 9pm.

South Africa is on a 21-day national lockdown intended to halt the rapid spread of Covid-19 which has claimed seven lives in South Africa, the country has recorded 1505 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 95 people recovering from the virus.

The coronavirus was first recorded in Wuhan in China during December last year. It spread to other parts of the world and to date there are over a million confirmed cases worldwide with over 50,000 deaths and over 200,000 recoveries.

Countries have imposed lockdowns as sweeping measures to stop the spread of the virus.

African News Agency