Free State police have sent a strong warning to motorists and pedestrians who fail to adhere to the country’s lockdown regulations.
This comes after the arrest of over 50 people including motorists, taxi drivers and commuters in Bethlehem and Harrismith since the start of the nationwide lockdown.
Authorities have vowed to continue cracking down on South Africans who trample on regulations set out by the president. These regulations are aimed at addressing and preventing the spread of COVID-19. Thirty five people were issued with fines ranging from R2000 to R5000 each after being found travelling without permits. Others were fined for loitering.
Meanwhile, the Health Department in the Free State says it has managed to trace 973 COVID-19 contacts in the province.
Over 1 000 contacts have been identified. This emanates from 480 people that attended a church service and had some contact with international guests that tested positive for the coronavirus.
Three doctors, a nurse and a neurophysicist in the Free State are among those who have tested positive for the virus.
The number of confirmed cases in the province stands at 72.
Many confirmed cases in Bloemfontein emanate from the service that was held earlier in March.
The department of health says Red Cross volunteers and community health workers are on the ground to help trace COVID-19 contacts in communities.
In the video below, the Free States sees a steady increase in COVID-19 cases:
Health MEC Montsheng Tsiu says the department is also increasing capacity of staff to conduct screening.
“They are coming that is why numbers are rising like they are because the church people are responding. They’re coming and those that are not coming, we are able to trace them to their homes because we are working together with Vodacom. It is helping us that we are able to locate where the contacts are and we are bringing them to do the screening and testing. We’ve two mobile laboratories that we have sent to the churches. So they are there at the churches, there are people there that have gone to be tested.”
In the video below, the Free State government says it is still tracing people who were exposed to the virus:
