Health professional tests positive for Covid- 19 at Mapulaneng Hospital in Bushbuckridge
Primary contacts have been tested and a team is busy tracing the other contacts.
According to a statement by the Mpumalanga Department of Health, one of its health professionals has tested positive for Covid-19 at Mapulaneng Hospital.
The official was tested on Friday April 24. This after she was screened at the hospital entrance when reporting for work. She was found to have a high temperature.
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The result was received on Tuesday evening, April 28. The staff members were informed on the morning of April 29 and the primary contacts have been tested and quarantined while awaiting their results. The tracing team is busy tracing the other contacts.
The official who tested positive has since been taken to one of the isolation sites in the province.
The hospital remains open, but the dental unit is currently closed in order to be decontaminated before it can be utilised.
MEC for health, Sasekani Manzini, visited the facility yesterday morning and, together with management and organised labour, agreed on the way forward to ensure the safety of workers and patients.
The dental unit, casualty and OPD were the first areas to be decontaminated yesterday evening, followed by the other areas until the entire hospital is decontaminated.
Manzini indicated that the daily screening of staff will continue and those meeting the criteria will be referred for testing.
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The safety of the frontline staff remains a priority for the department and the MEC expressed her gratitude to all the staff for their commitment.
Manzini has called for people to remain calm during this time. “I want to reassure the community of Bushbuckridge that the department is monitoring the positive cases and their contacts very closely.”
“The community screening and testing will continue and we can verify that it is indeed assisting to identify positive cases and prevent further spread of the pandemic.”
