Johannesburg - The Gauteng Department of Health spokesperson Kwara Kekana and her colleague from MEC Bandile Masuku's office are in isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.
Kekana and Julius Maputla, who is the manager for Stakeholder Relations, are the two officials from the Provincial Disaster Management Centre that the department had stated on Tuesday that had tested positive.
At the time, the department did not mention them by name but confirmed that some officials had tested positive and that people who had come into contact with them were being sought.
The command centre is where senior officials from all the departments in the province meet daily to receive reports and statistics on Covid-19 as well as discuss measures to put in place in order to curb the virus' spread.
In a statement sent on Thursday morning, the department said Kekana and Maputla were part of the officials who frequent the command centre.
"As a standard, the office of the MEC has a public duty to declare positive cases as part of the drive to fight against stigma and ignorance surrounding Covid-19, as well as to promote transparency.
"Further, it must be noted that Covid-19 is a notifiable disease and both officials have consented to the public declaration of their respective results and status. Contact tracing and measures applicable after the confirmation of a positive case have been followed.
"As part of established protocol, the two employees are currently in self-isolation at their respective homes for the prescribed period. Both the Gauteng Health provincial Central Office and the Disaster Management Centre have been disinfected and soon after, declared fit for operation."
The department also stated that Masuku has to date tested five times and remain negative. Other officials in his office have also been tested.
Since the infection of Kekana and Maputla, the department 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.