President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday, 30 March 2020 that South Africans will soon be having health officials walk into their homes to test them for COVID-19. It has been four days since South Africa declared a 21-day nationwide lockdown.
South African newspaper, Times Live, quoted Ramaphosa as saying, “In the coming days, the government will be rolling out a screening, testing, tracing and medical management program on a huge scale. Around 10,000 field workers will be visiting homes in villages, towns, and cities to screen residents for Covid-19 symptoms.”
The president did not however provide details of when the roll-out will begin. South Africa has 1,326 confirmed cases of Covid-19 and three people have so far died of the infection, Ramaphosa said in the broadcast.
“People who are infected with coronavirus but who have no or moderate symptoms will remain in isolation at home or at a facility provided by the government. Those with severe symptoms will be transferred to hospitals,” the newspaper quoted the president to have said.
“Using mobile technology, an extensive tracing system will be rapidly deployed to trace those who have been in contact with confirmed coronavirus cases and to monitor the geographical location of new cases in real-time.
“This drive is far-reaching, it is intensive and it is unprecedented in scale.”
Hattip to SABCNEWS
