The Gert Sibande District Executive Mayor, Councillor Muzi Chirwa, urges communities in the seven local municipalities to exercise precautionary measures to prevent the transmission of Covid-19.

This in the wake of rising figures of infections in the country and the declaration of Covid-19 as a national disaster by President Cyril Ramaphosa.

Councillor Chirwa has urged all community members to wash and sterilise their hands as a basic safety precaution.

He also advised people to avoid shaking hands as far as possible, thus limiting the spread and ultimately infections.

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The District is working with public and private institutions in Gert Sibande to mitigate the spread of the disease.

“The rising number of infections is a serious cause for concern,” the mayor said.

“Our people are panicking due to unverified information being circulated.

“We urge councillors, traditional leadership, community development workers (CDWs) and church organisations to share information about the corona virus through the distribution of pamphlets, as a measure to mitigate misinformation and fake news propagated via social media.”

The GSDM urges community members to avoid gatherings of more than 100 people and to call the Covid-19 hotline number or the National Institute for Communicable Diseases at 0800 029 999 for emergencies.

Residents can also make use of the official WhatsApp number 060 012 3456 for updates and verification of information.

“Further Information will be shared as and when received from the relevant national office.”

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