Customers wearing a variety of masks and face shields shop at a vegetable shop in Durban Road, Korsten in Port Elizabeth.(Photo: Mike Holmes) 
South Africans have spent almost a month living in lockdown after President Cyril Ramphosa declared the outbreak of coronavirus infections in the country a national disaster. As residents continue life under lockdown in Port Elizabeth, Maverick Citizen photographer Mike Holmes captured moments of small routines, big gestures and glimmers of hope in a series of images examining life away from the quiet streets of the city. Holmes took his camera from the busy site of a food parcel handover, to the swimming pool where a youngster trains for a long-distance swim, to the quiet streets of a low-cost housing scheme where only a bull is roaming around.
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_5.jpg "A homeless man does his washing at the makeshift homeless shelter that was set up at the Walmer Town Hall in Port Elizabeth for the lockdown period. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_9.jpg "A volunteer helps a Walmer township resident to pack donated food. Walmer township is one of the areas in the Nelson Mandela Metro where the need for food has been highlighted. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_4.jpg "Residents from Walmer Township return home after receiving food parcels to help them through the lockdown period. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_7.jpg "A roadblock by members of the South African Defence Force on one of Port Elizabeth's busiest roads. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_1.jpg "Rubbish piling up in Durban Road Korsten despite the municipality's assurance that waste collection was going ahead. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_2.jpg "With pineapple beer being all the rage, informal traders selling the fruit were doing a brisk trade in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_6.jpg "A soldier watches as crowds gather for food parcels in Zwide, Port Elizabeth. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_8.jpg "Brandon Chalmers practices long-distance swimming in his dad's pool during lockdown. (Photo: Mike Holmes)")
/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_10.jpg "A bull from a nearby herd surprised members of the South African Police's Mounted Unit on patrol through the low cost housing development Walmer Links in Port Elizabeth.(Photo: Mike Holmes)")