Picture: North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Mangement, Sello Lehari
By BAKANG MOKOTO
Various government offices continue to be closed after some officials are reported to be engulfed by the COVID-19. The latest affected office was the Bojanala Platinum District Municipality at the Kgetlengrivier Fire & Emergency Services in Koster.
Two employees were tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday. The municipality BPDM executive mayor, Fetsang Molosiwa said two firefighters consulted the doctor separately after experiencing flu symptoms early this week. Molosiwa said one firefighter who is currently in the hospital was in a pro-active section, which is a straight shift.
“He went for the test on Monday and received the results the following day. The other firefighter, who is a shift worker, was on duty over the weekend. She also underwent some tests and confirmed to be positive on Wednesday.
“However, the station will remain opened for members of the public to access emergency services. Another case has been confirmed in the Office of the Municipal Manager late yesterday, but the office will not be closed. The staff member had been in the office over seven to eight days ago,” she said.
Molosiwa further said she is trying to come to terms with the high number of infections in the district, particularly within the district municipality. She said they are aware that the firefighters are one of those that are at the forefront in fighting the spread of the virus.
“This is not good at all and we wish all BPDM employees speedy recovery. With these newly-confirmed cases, it now brings the total number of COVID-19 cases in the district municipality to 5,” said Molosiwa.
Meanwhile, the North West MEC for Community Safety and Transport Management, Sello Lehari has noted with regret the five COVID-19 cases reported by various traffic stations in the province. Lehari said three confirmed cases are in Dr Kenneth Kaunda, one in Dr Ruth Segomotsi Mompati and another in Bojanala respectively.
“The department has taken all precautionary measures as prescribed by closing the affected traffic stations. We already conducted the decontamination process on all of them and offered psycho-social support to our staff members.
“These psycho-social support processes were also completed and officials were advised to self-isolate. The Department of Health has been informed and they handled the contact tracing process. We would like to send our wishes for a speedy recovery to the affected colleagues,” he said.
Lehari added that all testing stations for learners and driving licenses are operational throughout the province albeit for fewer applicants than usual in line with the lockdown alert level 3 regulations.
The Guardian 