Restrictions on retail and e-commerce during Alert Level 4 will be reduced by new rules soon, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday night – but he provided no further detail.

Ramaphosa spent much of his address to the nation calling on South Africans to adhere to measures such as hand washing and wearing face masks, justifying South Africa's initial hard lockdown, and promising consultation and transparency.

By contrast he used only a handful of sentences to speak about new measures and regulations.

This, he said, will include lesser restrictions on exercise, and a likely move to Alert Level 3 for much of the country, except for the local areas where the rate of infection is high, at the end of May.

But before that, new rules will be published under the present Level 4, "to expand permitted business activities in a number of sectors", he said. 

He mentioned only retail and e-commerce.