Police national headquarters shut down due to positive Covid-19 case
A staff member at SAPS HQ tested positive for Covid-19, prompting the evacuation of entire building.
Members of the Police force can be seen blocking the R101 as they await the 146 repatriated South Africans from Wuhan after they arrived at the Polokwane Airport before being transported to the quarantine zone at The Ranch Resort, 14 March 2020, Polokwane. Picture: Jacques Nelles
The South African Police Service’s national headquarters in Pretoria has been closed down temporarily after a member tested positive for Covid-19.
The incident has been confirmed by national police spokesperson Brigadier Vish Naidoo, who said one of the staff members in the human resources department on the building’s sixth floor received a positive test result on Wednesday afternoon.
The staff member immediately alerted the unit’s commander, who ordered a precautionary shutdown of the entire building.
Naidoo said: “The commander activated the protocol we have in place, which consists of evacuation, sanitation, screening and testing.”
The building remains closed until Friday morning when they hope to be able to return to work.
“In the meantime, members who may have been in contact will be screened and tested,” Naidoo told The Citizen.
He could not confirm how many staff members work on the floor in question or may have come in contact with the infected member. He did, however, offer assurances that all necessary work continues despite the building’s closure, since “staff can all work from home, as they have all been given the necessary equipment to continue working remotely”.
It is not clear if the member who had tested positive was showing symptoms, since he had gone to see a private doctor earlier in the week, and a test was conducted while there.
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