By OBAKENG MAJE
The Community Health Centre (CHC) Promosa Section at Ikageng Location, near Potchefstroom was closed indefinitely after a nurse tested positive for COVID-19.
North West MEC for Health, Madoda Sambatha addressed the media at the Provincial Disaster Management Centre in Mahikeng, where the Premier, Prof Job Mokgoro as the chairperson of the Provincial Coronavirus Command Council (PCCC) was briefing the media on the province’s preparedness to implement level 4 of the lockdown.
“We took decisive action to immediately close the facility to allow decontamination. Mobile has been deployed to ensure access and continued service delivery until the decontamination of the facility. The District and Sub District Outbreak Response Teams (DSDORT) started with contact for patients, staff and their families.
“All staff members at the facility will be placed under quarantine for the next 14 days. The Outbreak Response Teams are checking the suitability of their homes for self-quarantine. If the homes do not meet criteria for self-quarantine, they will be taken to a designated quarantine site,” he said.
Sambatha added that this will also apply to their families and patients. He said for the next 14 days, the staff of the facility will not be at work.
“The department has appointed additional staff. We will have to scale down services like hours of operation and maternity services.
The clients will be serviced at other facilities,” said Sambatha.
Meanwhile, the Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize who received Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) from Stillwater and Old Mutual in Rustenburg on Wednesday said 511 health workers had tested positive for COVID-19 across the country.
However, Sambatha said the province had only 3 health workers tested positive out of that 511.
“All three health workers who were infected were from private health providers in the Dr Kenneth Kaunda District. They have already recovered after finishing their 14 days of quarantine.
“Also, all their contacts are free after they tested negative. They finished their 14 days of self-isolation and out of 599 contacts, we have traced 573 and quarantined 344,” he said.
North West has 40 positive cases of COVID-19 and Sambatha was grateful after 20 recoveries. He said the Dr Ruth Mompati and Dr Kenneth Kaunda districts have recovered 100% after having 5 and 1 infections respectively.
“COVID-19 pandemic is still deadly. We do not want to celebrate recoveries because it may give a wrong impression to people that the lockdown is no longer applicable,” said Sambatha.
The Guardian 