President Cyril Ramaphosa has brought forward the closure of schools for the winter holidays by a few weeks as the country battles to curb the rise of new Covid-19 infections.

Schools have also been affected by Covid-19 cases with Gauteng recording 4,700 Covid-19 cases in its schools as infections continue to rise.

The schools were supposed to close on July 12 to 23 for the winter season.

However, Ramaphosa - in an address to the nation on Sunday where he announced that the country should move to adjusted alert level 4 of the lockdown -  said the closure of schools and other educational institutions for the winter holidays will be brought forward.

"Schools will start closing from this Wednesday, the 30th of June, and all schools will be expected to be closed by the end of the week, on Friday.

"Contact classes at tertiary institutions will end by Wednesday, the 30th of June, with limited access to the institutions. Residences will, however, remain open," Ramaphosa said.

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