Covid-19: 20 000 phones to be distributed to health care workers to provide them with real-time data – Ramaphosa
President Cyril Ramaphosa said that he is hugely impressed by the centre and all the information it has been able to gather.
President Cyril Ramaphosa visited the Department of Health’s Covid-19 Information Centre on 9 April to observe how information about the coronavirus is tracked across the country.
The information centre is set up to monitor and track the spread of the coronavirus in the country. The centre is housed in a secure facility at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria. From here it provides close to real-time analytics, dashboards on the coronavirus outbreak per province, district, local municipality and ward.
While at the centre, Ramaphosa said, “I’m hugely impressed to see how we are able, through the facility that we have here, to look at the entire country and look at how we can get data and information about the incidents of infection of the coronavirus.”
Ramaphosa said that with their partner, Vodacom, they will be distributing 20 000 phones to health care workers that will be equipped with an app that will provide the information centre with real-time data. “We are immensely grateful that we have partners that are coming forward to assist us in this fight against coronavirus.”
The president also commended all those involved with the centre for their efforts to fight the coronavirus. “As a nation, we should be proud that we have an institution like the CSIR which is always trying to be ahead of the curve in terms of bringing solutions for the nation to utilise. I’m particularly proud of the fact that, at this most testing time for our nation, the CSIR has stepped up to the plate.”
The centre has tracked all hospitals and beds available to treat those with coronavirus as well as all bed and breakfasts and hotels which could be used for isolation centres or quarantine centres.
#COVID19 | The data and insights generated by the centre are a significant input for decision-making by the #NationalCommandCouncil chaired by the President. pic.twitter.com/eTDru24Z9r
— Presidency | South Africa 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) April 9, 2020
