Johannesburg - Some members of the Gauteng Disaster Management Command Centre have been placed in isolation after they tested positive for Covid-19.
The command centre is where senior officials from all the departments in the province meet daily to receive reports and statistics on Covid-19 and measures to put in place to curb the virus' spread.
The Department of Health is currently in the process of tracing the people who came into contact with them, it said.
"The process of contact tracing and testing of contacts based on risk assessment including presence of symptoms is currently being conducted," the department said.
The department also said it had now taken extra precautionary measures to conduct baseline testing of members of the command centre, including supporting staff who regularly attended meetings of the structure at its base in Ormonde after the other officials tested positive.
As of Monday, June 8, the number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Gauteng stood at 6 258, with 2 575 recoveries and 47 deaths, while 511 people were in hospital.
In light of the rising number of infections, the department said that as the situation intensified, it was anticipated more people would be infected.
"The reality is that we cannot stop the virus since there is no cure at the moment. However, we can minimise its spread as much as possible by adhering to the safety measures put in place and practising the golden rules of hand washing and social distancing."
The department said they had already implemented the following measures at the command centre and they were now part of the daily practice:
• Daily screening of the team.
• Observance of guidelines for social distancing in the workplace.
• Sanitation and hygiene measures.
• Use of appropriate personal protective equipment (cloth/ other face masks).
• Regular cleaning of surfaces and shared equipment.
• Half of the command centre team's about 20 people now attend meetings virtually as part of workplace social distancing and to ensure business continuity.
"Baseline testing of the team and fogging of the facility will now be done more regularly irrespective of whether there are people who present with symptoms or not, so as to ensure that the operations of the command centre are not compromised," the department said.
Of the 6 258 positive cases, there are 472 that the department have yet to allocate to the province's districts.
GAUTENG BREAKDOWN
Total Cases
Total Deaths
Recoveries
Active
Gauteng
6 258
47
2 575
3636Johannesburg
3 205
22
1 501
1682Ekurhuleni
1 243
12
605
626Tshwane
811
9
368
434West Rand
570
464
502Sedibeng
137
0
37