Nyakallo Tefu
City of Joburg mayor Geoffrey Makhubo says the city has already implemented urgent and drastic measures to curb the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Makhubo convened a Special Mayoral Committee Meeting this week as a response to mitigate the COVID-19 pandemic in the city.
The meeting ensured that the city implemented a raft of measures announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa around the management of the deadly COVID-19.
As the virus spreads across South Africa, precautions like social distancing and event cancellations are underway.
The latest number of confirmed cases in South Africa stood at 202 on Friday.
Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Friday that Gauteng had 33 cases, the Western Cape 11 and KwaZulu-Natal seven.
Joburg has a population of 5.5 million residents spread out into 7 regions, which also cover key nodal points such as the Joburg inner-city, Ennerdale, Fourways, Lenasia, Midrand, Randburg, Roodepoort, Sandton and Soweto.
“The city’s approach is thus to prevent, contain and manage the spread of the COVID-19 through efficient and equitable deployment of resources to regions and the most vulnerable areas, particularly areas of high volumes in human traffic and informal and densely populated settlements”, said Makhubo.
“Our Metro Police Department last night (Thursday) were ensuring compliance by liqour outlets & places of entertainment in the Inner City. This is to ensure that we are in line with the guidelines outlined as per the declared National State of Disaster.”
He added: “Our teams are out in taxi ranks, train stations, community hubs and centres implementing some of our early interventions on #COVID19 and educating commuters and communities.”
After meeting with executive team, Makhubo announced the following measures:
* The 79 clinics within the City have received protective equipment and personnel have been briefed on how to manage and handle suspected and/or otherwise confirmed cases of COVID-19 in line with the national and provincial guidelines and protocols;
* Clinical teams are being deployed to support the elderly and vulnerable persons through-out the City. This includes assisting the tracking and tracing efforts of those who have potentially been exposed to persons confirmed as infected with the virus;
* All events approved by the Joint-Operations Centre of the City have since been cancelled. This is in line with the Presidential pronouncement on events and gatherings exceeding 100 persons;
* The Joburg, Soweto and Roodepoort Theatres have been directed to postpone all shows and activities until further notice;
* All public swimming pools, recreational and civic centres, stadiums, libraries and sporting facilities are to be closed until further notice including the Johannesburg Zoo;
* Metro Bus and Rea-Vaya bus services are to drastically scale down operations in accordance with a principle of one person per two-seater and two people per three- seater bench. All busses will be sanitized once every 24-hours and washed twice a day. Sanitizers will be provided for commuters on busses and at ticket offices and depots. Cash payments for trips are suspended and commuters are encouraged to get tags, which will be issued free of charge during this period;
* Our Tourism Information Centres will be closed from 18 March 2020 until the City has finalized the provision of protective equipment and protocols for employees employed at the Centres in Nelson Mandela Square, Johannesburg Park Station and Sandton Gautrain and in Soweto;
* Our Disaster Management Centre has been activated and will be monitoring the implementation of our counter measures and response to cases reported and suspected cases. All City departments will deploy resources to the Centre to provide 24-hour monitoring and support over an initial period of seven (7) days;
- The City has also decided to strongly encourage bars, nightclubs, taverns, restaurants, cinemas and other areas of public entertainment to immediately cease operations and limit themselves to providing off-premise consumption.
“We encourage residents to be responsible, resilient and to not undermine the potential impact a widespread and rapid infection rate of the virus could have on the residents of the City and our economy. We must, immediately and without second-thoughts, amend our daily routines, forego unnecessary travel, avoid restaurants and other places of entertainment, take due care for our personal hygiene and be vigilant to signs of infection and symptoms” said Makhubo.
