Mass screening in Bo-Kaap after Covid-19 claims elderly resident's life

The Western Cape government has rolled out mass screening and testing for Covid-19 in one of Cape Town’s key tourist areas.

Health workers knocked on every door in the Bo-Kaap on Tuesday.

This followed the first Covid-19 death in the suburb last week.

The Bo-Kaap Community Response Team announced in a statement over the weekend that 81-year-old resident Kulsum Cassiem had succumbed to the coronavirus.

“Our community has been touched [by] a calamity and it is vital that we keep calm and continue to do our duty to observe the regulations of our country in our quest to reduce the spreading of the disease,” said the team.

“Our actions to observe the regulations will not only protect ourselves but Insha-Allah [God willing] will protect the elderly and vulnerable in our community.”

Provincial health MEC Nomafrench Mbombo said her department was targeting the Bo-Kaap because there have been two confirmed cases in the community — neither of whom had a history of international travel.  

“There has been two cases that we have identified there,” said Mbombo.

“One of the reasons that we're targeting the community for mass screening and testing is because both cases had not had any association with international travelling.”