Gauteng Premier David Makhura has called Ekurhuleni the COVID-19 hotspot in Gauteng with 549 confirmed cases. He says the metro has overtaken Johannesburg in being the red district, although the majority of confirmed cases are still in the city.
The municipality has registered 549 of 2 400 cases in the province, while Johannesburg has over 1 200 positive cases.
Makhura and the Provincial Command Council briefed the media on Gauteng’s readiness to move to alert Level 3 of the lockdown. He says that Johannesburg has stabilised.
“We are worried that Ekurhuleni has become, just at the level of district, our hotspot. You will remember Johannesburg may have more numbers, but it has stabilized. It has more recoveries. Ekurhuleni in terms of new infections, we are tracking over a period of a week. Ekurhuleni is becoming a big concern for us as a province.”
Gauteng Premier David Makhura says while the province has been successful in controlling the spread of the coronavirus – tough times still lie ahead:
Schools readiness
Classroom sizes across Gauteng will be reduced to 20 learners. Gauteng Education MEC, Panyaza Lesufi says schools will receive about 3 000 Grades 7 and 12 learners on 1 June.
“A classroom that has 40 learners, we are reducing it to 20. But there are some schools that you might find that the classroom was putting up say 70 learners, we are reducing that as well to 20. So, there must be no classroom with more than 20. If space does not allow and we will be in a position to monitor that and ensure that we get reports,” says Lesufi.
Lesufi says they will invite parents to access the department’s readiness to reopen schools. He says they have already started distributing protective gear and equipment while principals and SGB’s will oversee the deep cleaning of schools before occupation.
In the video below, there are mixed reactions to the reopening of schools amid the COVID-19 outbreak:
Lesufi says parents will be welcome to visit schools before the schools reopen.
“We want to have an open day in our schools so that parents can come and check our readiness. They can come and check if indeed we are ready before they can allow their children to come to school. We are also making the input that we are giving, we are going to release it for public comments as well because we don’t want to claim that we are the only once having ideas. We also want members of society to give input.”
The document below is the full Gauteng Provincial Command Council weekly media update.
In the video below, the Provincial Command Council briefs the media on COVID-19 in Gauteng:
