South Africa

300 Clover workers await results after colleague contracts Covid-19

29 April 2020 - 13:52 By Iavan Pijoos
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The employee went to Botshabelo Hospital on April 22 after he showed Covid-19 symptoms. He was tested and his results came back positive.
The employee went to Botshabelo Hospital on April 22 after he showed Covid-19 symptoms. He was tested and his results came back positive.
Image: 123rf.com/betonstudio

More than 300 Clover employees in Bloemfontein are awaiting their test results after a worker tested positive for Covid-19, the Free State department of health said on Wednesday.

Health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi said the employee went to Botshabelo Hospital on April 22 after he showed symptoms of Covid-19. He was tested and his results came back positive.  

Every day, hundreds of Covid-19 testers are at the forefront of the fight against coronavirus in South Africa. For Bhelekazi Mdlalose, nursing is more than just a job, it is a passion. Mdlalose is a registered nurse and Covid-19 tester working for Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) in partnership with the Department of Health. TimesLIVE followed a day in her life to see what it is like being in the frontline amidst the Covid-19 pandemic.

“It was learnt that he is a commuting employee of Clover in Bloemfontein. His household and close social contacts who travelled with him daily were tested and they are all negative.”

The 18 contacts, including his wife and children, had been quarantined at the Philip Sanders resort since Wednesday last week.

The department performed contact tracing at the weekend at the branch where there are 369 workers.

“This led to a temporary closure of Clover while awaiting results of all 369 contacts. The place has been decontaminated.”

They perform one of SA's most important services - collecting recyclables that would otherwise swell the country's rubbish dumps and burden municipal trash collection - but the coronavirus lockdown has left thousands of waste pickers without any way to make a living. While municipal refuse removers were classified as essential workers, waste pickers were excluded from the list. Lockdown measures are expected to be relaxed slightly from May 1 2020, but the group still faces an uncertain future.

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