Joburg mayor announces Covid-19 interventions

“The city has a population of 5, 5 million residents and they are mostly located in high density settlements. With a significant population located in informal settlements, this warrants the implementation of drastic yet responsible interventions,” said Makhubo.

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1.    The 79 clinics in CoJ received protective equipment and personnel have been briefed on how to manage and handle suspected and/or otherwise confirmed cases of Covid-19 in line with the national and provincial guidelines and protocols.

2.    Clinical teams are being deployed to support the elderly and vulnerable persons. This includes assisting the tracking and tracing efforts of those who have potentially been exposed to persons confirmed as infected with the virus.

3.    All events approved by the Joint Operations Centre have since been cancelled and approval revoked.

4.    The Joburg, Soweto and Roodepoort Theatres have been directed to postpone all shows and activities until further notice.

5.    All public swimming pools, recreational and civic centres, stadiums, libraries and sporting facilities will be be closed until further notice including the Johannesburg Zoo.

6.    Metro Bus and Rea-Vaya bus services are to drastically scale down operations in accordance with a principle of one person per two seater and two people per three seater bench. All busses will be sanitised once every 24-hours and washed twice a day. Sanitisers will be provided for commuters on busses and at ticket offices and depots. Cash payments for trips are suspended and commuters are encouraged to get tags, which will be issued free of charge during this period.

7.    Tourism Information Centres have been closed since March 18 until such time as the city has finalised the provision of protective equipment and protocols for employees at the centres in Nelson Mandela Square, Johannesburg Park Station and Sandton Gautrain and in Soweto.

8.    The Disaster Management Centre has been activated and will be monitoring the implementation of CoJ’s counter measures and response to cases reported and suspected cases. “All city departments will deploy resources to the centre to provide 24-hour monitoring and support over an initial period of seven days.”

“The Johannesburg Metropolitan Police Department (JMPD) has been directed to monitor and enforce strict adherence to the guidelines outlined as per the declared National State of Disaster.

“The key-interventions outlined above will be supported by several service delivery initiatives by the city to ensure that we provide an end-to-end support system to the prevention, containment and management services of the city in relation to the Covid-19.”

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