The South African National Editors’ Forum (Sanef) has called on all media organisations to make sure their staff have the relevant protective gear as the country battles to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
A journalist at the SABC‘s Kimberly office in the Northern Cape tested positive for the COVID-19 infection.
Sanef says journalists and media workers are among the essential staff listed on government’s lockdown regulations and must be cautious when out reporting.
The public broadcaster took immediate precautionary steps and shut down its operations in the region.
All staff are working from home.
Meanwhile, the country has over 1000 confirmed infections. South Africa has reported its first two deaths from the coronavirus.
In this video, South Africa reports its first two deaths from the coronavirus:
Meanwhile, the National Health Laboratory Service (NHL) says they have six laboratories performing COVID-19-related tests across all nine provinces.
The number is expected to increase to 9 by April.
This comes as public health workers in vulnerable communities call for more testing kits and facilities to be made available.
Public health workers have expressed concern over the lack of testing kits available.
