Cape Town - The Cape Town Labour Centre will be closed on Monday after an employment and labour department official tested positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19).
"The closure is to allow for all workers who may have been in contact with the affected employee to be monitored and for the offices to be decontaminated," the department said in a statement on Sunday.
Labour centres had been closed to the general public since the implementation of the Covid-19 lockdown regulations at the end of March, although officials had continued working in the background, capturing information and thus ensuring that there was no major disruption of services for clients. The affected employee, therefore, did not have any interaction with members of the public, the department said.
Labour department chief director: provincial operations Mawele Ntamo said in the statement the employee had, however, been in contact with 30 other staff members. The affected employees would now self-isolate and also be referred for counselling.
To date, offices had been conducting regular assessments of staff, including daily health checks and temperature screening, which subsequently led to the identification of a potential case.
Labour department director general Thobile Lamati had previously stated that it was almost inevitable that some staff could be infected and affected. “What is critical is how we respond. With all the given circumstances, the department has responded in the way that is expected, which is to follow the laid down protocols,” he said.
The labour centre was the second one to close in the Western Cape due to Covid-19 and came as labour centres around the country prepared to open their doors on June 8. It was expected that the Cape Town Labour Centre would now only open to the public on Wednesday, June 10. Meanwhile, clients should use the department’s online services, the statement said.