Health volunteers in the Free State say they are determined to turn the tide against the deadly coronavirus. There are 118 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the province, with 95 recoveries.
At least 300 Red Cross volunteers have been deployed in the province to help with the screening and distribution of food parcels and hygiene products.
The screening and testing in the Free State has been widely expanded in public places, including shopping centres.
Motorists and passengers are also screened at roadblocks.
More than 600 000 people have been screened for the COVID-19 in the Free State, with nearly 6 000 having been tested.
There were long queues at some of the shopping centres in Bloemfontein, with social distancing being the order of the day.
Some of the shoppers say the new behaviour is encouraging.
“I should say I’m very proud of South Africans because they are following the orders of the president because they are all wearing their masks. Some of them, mostly they brought their own sanitizers so that when they get home they can also sanitise their groceries that means this lock down could be over in less than we expected,”
In this video below, screening in the Free State continues:
Humanitarian organisation Red Cross has been roped in to help with the mass screening and door-to-door visits. Free State Red Cross manager, Claudia Mangwegape, says they have been largely welcomed by communities.
“We have been welcomed by our communities and so far, we have few challenges whereby when we go our community members would say that they have challenges in terms of masks because we are coming in with masks but they don’t have masks. Even if they were to go to shops, it’s quite challenging for them. So, we are jotting down everyone of challenges and see where an how can be able to address that,” says Mangwegape.
Meanwhile, Free State Health MEC Montseng Tsiu says they are determined to combat the spread of the deadly coronavirus.
“What we are doing here we are screening we are also referring for test those that would find after screening that they require to be tested we do refer them to the appropriate place for them to be swapped. But the otter thing that we’re doing we are trying to teach people more about COVID-19 what is it that they must do to take care of themselves not to get infected and also not to infect others if they are infected,” says Tsiu.
Bloemfontein remains the epicentre of the coronavirus in the province.
In the video below, Free State conducts screening:
Below is graph that show the South African COVID-19 statistics and global statistics:
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