Coronavirus: Three Western Cape police stations closed for Covid-19 decontamination
Police say members from the two stations who came in contact with infected persons will undergo the necessary screening and, or testing.
The police amendment bill has been criticised for centralising power. Picture for illustration: Ashraf Hendricks / GroundUp
Three more police station buildings have been closed for a Covid-19 decontamination, this time in the Western Cape.
Provincial police spokesperson Brigadier Novela Potelwa said the Bredasdorp and Struisbaai police stations had started decontamination protocols on May 1.
“Struisbaai is now operating from the municipal building while Bredasdorp will utilise the Thusong Centre,” Potelwa said on Sunday.
“Members from the two stations who came in contact with the infected case/s will undergo the necessary screening and/or testing.”
Last week, Parliament’s Portfolio Committee on Police and the Select Committee on Security and Justice heard that, of the 103 police officers who had tested positive, 10 had recovered, 89 had been isolated, three hospitalised, and one had died.By the time of that report on April 30, 45 police buildings had been evacuated and 39 decontaminated and reoccupied.
More than 1 000 officers were quarantined.
Potelwa told News24 on Sunday that the Swellendam police station also had to go through decontamination and had resumed operations on Saturday after two police officials tested positive for the virus.
Contact tracing was underway and the police station had opened again after the decontamination.
The Swellendam municipality said in a statement that the town hall was also decontaminated after the officers went back to their decontaminated police station. A Covid-19 joint operations centre had been set up in the region.
Other police stations affected include New Brighton police station in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town Central police station.
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