Ramaphosa steps up the fight with home visits and mobile tech
Contacts to be tracked and traced; people to be tested at home
SA will deploy a 10,000-strong force of field workers to visit homes across the country to screen people for symptoms of the Covid-19 virus and will introduce mobile technology to track and trace contacts of those found to be positive, President Cyril Ramaphosa said.
The measures mark a dramatically stepped-up effort by the government to tackle the fight against the virus before it reaches the point where it can overwhelm the health system.
The intervention came as SA reported its third death and the number of confirmed cases reached 1,326. The virus has crippled the world and placed billions under lockdown, and is threatening to plunge SA’s already struggling economy into a deep recession.
Government’s new measures also came as health authorities reported the first confirmed cases in low-income areas in Johannesburg and Cape Town, signalling the need for greater urgency.
The field workers will send those with symptoms for testing at local clinics. People who are found to be positive with mild symptoms will be quarantined either at home or in government facilities, while those who are ill will be hospitalised.
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