A week after the joint operations centre at the Joe Gqabi District Municipality warned in its COVID-19 updated report that the district now had the highest rate of positive tests –29.2% (7% higher than the provincial average) – in the Eastern Cape, there has been an outbreak of infections at a school in Burgersdorp with 98 children so far testing positive. Daily Maverick quotes spokesperson for the Eastern Cape Health Department, Sizwe Kupelo, who was in Burgersdorp, as saying that the department had sent a team to the small town to deal with the outbreak.
“We are working with the Education Department. We also have a member of the World Health Organisation’s outbreak team here,” he said. “We are closely monitoring the situation and trying to prevent the virus from spreading further,” he said.
Mali Mtima of Eastern Cape Health said that the provincial education MEC, Fundile Gade, had been “shocked” to learn of the Burgersdorp school outbreak. “A multi-departmental team consisting of the local municipality, departments of Health and Public Works and Education has been established to manage the spread of this outbreak and advise on measures suitable for learners, especially those writing their trial examinations,” said Mtima.
“Currently, the team has advised the department to allow learners to write, as there are (no) reasons to stop the learners since they are medically fit. Invigilators have been advised to put on personal protective equipment and scripts will also be monitored for a specified period before being marked.”
Mtima said the health department had requested counselling for the children and was drawing up a plan to prevent them from transferring the virus to their homes or parents.
Gade said a report submitted by the EC Health indicated that 552 learners will be quarantined. He said the report confirmed that contact tracing had begun.
Daily Maverick reports that Burgersdorp has about 15,000 residents, including those living in its two townships, Mzamomhle and Tembisa, outside the town. The joint operations centre for the Joe Gqabi District Municipality issued a statement on Friday saying that it was awaiting the test results for another 65 learners. The municipality, however, expressed concern that several of the infected learners had already been in contact with their families.
The report says the provincial department, despite a request by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize that daily updates were issued, has not provided a detailed breakdown of infections in the province in seven days.
The report says there had been three smaller outbreaks in the towns that fall under the municipality with 37 cases and five deaths being identified in the Dirk Postma Old Age Home in Burgersdorp, 29 in Huis van der Horst in Aliwal North and 3 at the Barkley East Diens Sentrum. According to the municipality, there had also been a small outbreak at the Burgersdorp prison.
The district has the lowest number of tests in the province at only 9,941 (2.4% of the provincial tally of tests) but the highest positivity rate at 29.2%. The provincial positivity rate is 21%.
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