Covid-19: Residents urged to be aware of potential criminals posing as field workers

As President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a government home screening programme, Melisande Barnard, a community development manager at Fidelity Security Group, said they are aware of the crime opportunities it might bring.

“We urge all residents to be wary of the opportunity this roll-out of the home screening programme brings to criminals.

“This enables them to possibly take advantage at this time of crisis and gain access to properties,” said Barnard.

She said residents need to be careful and also know what to do to check when the right people and wrong people come knocking on their doors.

“It’s important for residents to know what to check and ask for when the right people come to their homes.

“They need to know what identification elements the testers must produce so that they are not fooled,” said Barnard.

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Official testers must have the following identifiers with them:

• Police officers will accompany the field testers.

• They will all be wearing the same T-shirts.

• They will be carrying their RSA ID documents.

• They will have ID badges.

“People must make sure they ask for these things before they let anyone into their properties.

“They must also note that these tests do not need to be done inside their properties,” said Barnard.

“If you are not comfortable about people coming into your property the test can be done outside your property.

“You also have the right to contact the SAPS before allowing anyone access to your property.”

She said as Fidelity they will also be vigilant of the movement in the area.

“We are here for the community, make sure to report any suspicious activity.

“Community leaders will be alerted to the presence of field workers in the area,” said Barnard.

Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize said the decision to intensify the testing of possible Covid-19 patients was aimed at drastically reducing local transmissions of the virus.

Sixty-seven mobile units were launched recently in Sandringham.

These mobile testing stations will be deployed to hotspots and officials will conduct door-to-door sampling and screening.

“It is important for us to move ahead of the spread of the infection,” said Mkhize.

He said with the flu season coming, there was no time to waste in trying to get as many South Africans tested as possible.