According to the communication officer of Carletonville Hospital, Mr Mathabo Letsoalo, the hospital is geared to deal with any cases in Merafong. He adds that the Minister of Health, Dr Zwelini Mkhize, indicated on Tuesday that no stone would be left unturned to combat the disease. Health officials will immediately be in contact with patients who have tested positive, determine whether they require hospitalisation or can be treated in self-quarantine and, more importantly, trace all other individuals they have been in direct contact with.
“We must know every individual who has been exposed. They must be screened immediately and those who require testing must be tested without any delay while they remain in self-quarantine.
If those contacts test positive, we must further identify their contacts because they also become potential positive cases. Without fully identifying confirmed cases and their direct contacts quickly, the spread of the virus will keep rising. This, therefore, calls for us to take stringent measures to ensure that we have all the information required.
The National Health Act regulations relating to the surveillance and control of notifiable medical conditions, which were promulgated in December 2017, make it a legal obligation to adhere to specific reporting standards,” the minister says.
This will entail that everyone who tests positive for Covid-19, will have to provide their full details, including their full name, ID number, gender, physical address, mobile phone number and an alternative number.
Any person who fails to comply is guilty of an offence and could be imprisoned for up to 10 years.