Movie theatre company Nu Metro is closing all its cinema complexes and accompanying operations with immediate effect, it said on Tuesday.

This follows President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on Monday evening that a three-week national lockdown will come into force effective from Friday, 27 March.

“The precautionary measures for Nu Metro cinemas announced last week were implemented with full efficacy until the final movie shows in cinemas last night (Monday, 23 March),” it said in a statement.

“We at Nu Metro consider the health of our customers and staff as top priority and we would again like to encourage all South Africans to follow all health, hygiene and other legal regulations as communicated by the department of health.

“Our cinemas will remain closed until the end of the lockdown, or as otherwise directed by the South African government.”

Nu Metro’s cinema operations in Mozambique and Zambia continue to trade with “strict precautionary measures, in line with the current governmental directives in place there”.  — (c) 2020 NewsCentral Media