Justice Minister Ronald Lamola says deep cleaning has begun at correctional centres across the country to try and prevent coronavirus infections.
This is in line with stringent measures that President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced to deal with the spread of the virus in the country.
Upon declaring a national state of disaster, Ramphosa also ordered the suspension of visits to correctional centres for 30 days.
Lamola says maximum compliance is essential. “We want to see maximum compliance across the country regarding regulations and any failure of compliance will be visited upon by the necessary actions by the law enforcement agencies. We are busy at the various correction centres with the cleaning, with the hygiene processes that will be necessary for us to comply with the regulations because the regulations says the visit is suspended for 30 days. We do not want to take any chance.”
Suspension of all public visits to: Detention centres and Social Development facilities. #COVID19 #CoronaVirusSA pic.twitter.com/Cg5kTTMyLC
— PresidencyZA (@PresidencyZA) March 19, 2020
Gauteng hospitals
The Gauteng Health Department has implemented strict restrictions on people visiting patients at health facilities across the province, in an attempt to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
The number of COVID-19 cases in the country has increased to 150, with no deaths reported.
Gauteng has the highest number of cases, currently standing at 76, followed by the Western Cape at 46 and KwaZulu-Natal at 22.
Visiting hours at all Gauteng Health Facilities are now limited to one hour per day between midday and one o’clock.
A patient will also only be allowed two visitors per day, with only one visitor being allowed to see the patient at a time, for no longer than 15 minutes.
There will also be no rotation of visitors allowed and any visits outside the prescribed time will require special arrangements to be made with the attending doctor.
The restrictions follow the declaration of the COVID-19 outbreak as a national disaster.
In the video below, Lancet Laboratories say more people are testing for coronavirus:
Kruger National Park
Meanwhile, the Kruger National Park says it has begun to feel the effects of COVID-19.
Spokesperson Ike Phaahla says some foreign nationals have been cancelling their planned bookings.
“It has affected bookings negatively. It’s like in any other industry that depends on tourism. We have seen cancellations from people especially the travel ban was introduced by the president on Sunday. Our reservations are inundated with emails from people who want not to cancel at this stage. Most of them are just postponing to a late date depending on how the situation pans out.”
Below are regulations set out to stop spread of COVID-19:
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Additional reporting by Sashin Naidoo and Horisani Sithole
