Gauteng Provincial Government confirms 12 Covid-19 cases on West Rand
The vast district has considerably less cases than the rest of the province
The country sits on the edge of its seat as it desperately awaits Covid-19 related updates. With the government centralising the dissemination of information, the nation hangs on every word spoken by its leaders. The Gauteng Provincial Government and the Gauteng Department of Health held a briefing on Thursday, 9 April to update the province on its Covid-19 status.
Gauteng Premier, David Makhura, confirmed that 42 per cent of South Africa’s total cases were identified in Gauteng, and that Johannesburg was the worst effected. “If Gauteng is the epicentre of South Africa, Johannesburg is the epicentre of Gauteng,” elaborated Makhura. Provincial government will be breaking up statistics into five districts, namely, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, West Rand, Tshwane and Sedibeng.
Also Read:
https://www.citizen.co.za/roodepoort-record/2020/04/08/hef-reaches-out-to-1-000-homes-during-lockdown/
While Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni have been hardest hit, West Rand currently has a comparatively low number of cases. Makhura confirmed that the West Rand district, which covers a large area spanning across parts of Soweto, Roodepoort, Krugersdorp and Randfontein, had a total of 12 Covid-19 cases. There are cases which fall into an ‘unallocated’ grouping, meaning locations have not been confirmed, with that number standing at 123.
Updates on the figures will be given daily once confirmed by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. To avoid stigmatisation, no suburb-specific information will be issued to the public. “We will aggregate information on a district level,” said Makhura. A total of 26 841 people have been screened throughout the province, with 8 005 community health workers supervised by 607 health professionals continuing the screening process.
* Notice: Coronavirus reporting at Caxton Local Media aims to combat fake news
Dear reader,
As your local news provider, we have the duty of keeping you factually informed on Covid-19 developments. As you may have noticed, mis- and disinformation (also known as “fake news”) is circulating online. Caxton Local Media is determined to filter through the masses of information doing the rounds and to separate truth from untruth in order to keep you adequately informed. Local newsrooms follow a strict pre-publication fact-checking protocol. A national task team has been established to assist in bringing you credible news reports on Covid-19.
Readers with any comments or queries may contact National Group Editor Irma Green (irma@caxton.co.za) or Legal Adviser Helene Eloff (helene@caxton.co.za).
