St Lucia residents sanitise high-risk areas to stop coronavirus

Residents of the town of St Lucia, which a French tourist who tested positive for Covid-19 recently visited, have started cleaning high-traffic areas in a bid to protect the popular KwaZulu-Natal holiday destination.

On Saturday night, volunteers in hazmat suits were seen spraying popular spots like supermarkets, a taxi rank and service station forecourts.

The town is renowned for wildlife roaming its streets, including hippos. The local ratepayers' association has taken care not to spray in areas where the animals tend to graze.

"As a major tourist destination, the St Lucia community has been working on measures to combat the spread of coronavirus since the start of the pandemic. These measures assisted in containing an incident where a positive French tourist was allowed to travel here after being tested," said the association in a statement.

"Members of the ratepayers' association have undertaken extensive research into best practices. Just before the lockdown started, the association was able to purchase two Stihl SR430 mistblowers to increase our sanitising capacity.

"We have started regular cleansing operations of high-traffic areas of the town at night, including outside grocery stores, taxi ranks, service station forecourts, the post office and police station - staying well away from bushes and wildlife grazing areas.

"Spraying is limited to high-risk, high-traffic paved areas not frequented by hippos and other wildlife. Our research indicates there is minimal residual chemical left after evaporation. However, we will continue to research and implement best practices for the duration of the pandemic."