Over 700 schools have been reported to have had cases of the Covid-19 virus in the country, since grade sevens and 12s returned to school on June 8. They had been in lockdown for more than 10 weeks.

Amajuba District has reported four schools affected by positive Covid-19 cases.

Newcastle High School remains closed after a positive Covid-19 case was reported at the school.  Mr Manny Govender, the school’s principal, issued a statement last week about the closure of the school on June 29, until further notice.

“The school closed on June 26.  On June 27, the department sent a company to the school to commence with the disinfecting process,” said Mr Govender.

“Teachers who taught the affected learner, went for private laboratory tests, all tests came back negative.  Learners were given the option of testing privately or via the Department Of Health (DOH). On June 29, the DOH, tested 67 learners and we are still waiting for their results. Those learners who went for private tests sent in their results as they receive it. At the moment five more learners tested positive. The Grade 12’s are to remain at home until we have tested a new batch of learners on Monday (July 6), and receive the outcome of their results,” Govender further explained.

Govender added teachers were actively engaging with learners on whatsapp groups and/or video chats to keep them occupied with work.

St Oswalds Secondary School is also closed and have issued a statement.

“The Department of Health will send a team to test educators and learners who were in contact with the learner. The school will be disinfected and will communicate with parents and educators about when it will re-open,” said the school’s spokesperson in a press release.

Lincoln Heights Secondary School closed on June 29 and re-opened on July 2, also after a learner at the school tested positive for the virus.

“The Department of Health has sent in a service provider to deep clean the school. The entire school has been disinfected. All learners in the class of the affected learner were advised to undergo testing, which most have and no new cases have been reported. The affected learner will remain in quarantine until the period is over.”

Sabela Senior Secondary School in Madadeni also promptly closed on July 1, after a reported positive Covid-19 case at the school.

“All protocols and rules are being followed. Parents and learners have today (July 3) reported to the school to undergo testing for the virus, that will be carried out by the Department of Health,” stated school Principal, Mr S.F Msimanga.

Meanwhile, the Department of Basic Education has issued a statement saying only Grade 6, Grade 11 and Grade R will return to school on Monday, July 6.

“This decision affects all provinces. The other grades will be phased during the month of July in a differentiated approach within the stipulated time frames as per The Government Gazette of 29 June 2020 as published by the minister. We will adjust the reopening phases based on the risk-adjusted strategy which is a considered attempt to balance our approach to school reopening, taking into account all factors that affect the work we do. We are guided in this by an observation of the rising numbers of community transmissions throughout the country. We recognize that schools are based in communities and learners live in the same affected communities and therefore a careful balancing act must be maintained.”

The KZN Department of Health has reported 1037 new cases on July 2.

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