Pretoria - World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus this week praised President Cyril Ramaphosa’s leadership as the country battles the highest coronavirus (Covid-19) infection cases on the continent.
In a series of tweets, Ghebreyesus also appealed to South Africans to adhere to the measures implemented to curb the spread of the virus.
“I thank President Cyril Ramaphosa for his leadership and all South Africa’s government and all of society Covid-19 response with citizens doing their best to adhere to the measures taken to contain the coronavirus,” the WHO boss tweeted on Tuesday.
In another tweet, Ghebreyesus tweeted: “Today a massive door-to-door campaign to test identify Covid-19 patients in South Africa has started. Those who test positive will be isolated and receive necessary care, and their contacts will be traced”.
%%%twitter https://twitter.com/hashtag/COVID19?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#COVID19patients in #SouthAfrica has started.
Those who test positive will be isolated and receive necessary care, and their contacts will be traced. #coronavirus
— Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (@DrTedros)
He also tweeted: “10,000 health workers already deployed and more will be trained to support the South Africa Covid-19 response. I join President Cyril Ramaphosa’s appreciation of all health professionals who are supporting the response and keeping their nation safe from the coronavirus”.
In a televised speech on Monday, Ramaphosa called on all residents in South Africa to adhere to the 21-day lockdown regulation in a bid to arrest the rapid spread of Covid-19.
"We are entering a new phase, in the coming days government will be rolling out screening, testing on a huge scale. Health workers will be visiting villages and towns to test people for Covid-19," he said.
"Around 10,000 field workers will be visiting homes in villages, towns and cities to screen residents for Covid-19 symptoms. People with symptoms will be referred to local clinics or mobile clinics for testing.
"People who are infected with coronavirus, but who have no or moderate symptoms will remain in isolation at home or at a facility provided by government and those with severe symptoms will be transferred to hospitals."
Ramaphosa declared a national lockdown last week to stop the spread of Covid-19.
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