MEC slams operators after sightseeing foreigners in St Lucia test positive for Covid-19

KwaZulu-Natal MEC for health Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu has slammed tour operators in St Lucia, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, for welcoming tourists from high-risk areas. 

This after two Germans were found to be mingling with a group of 10 South Africans on a boat on St Lucia's estuary after testing positive for Covid-19 on Saturday.

The Mtubatuba Community Service Centre (CSC) received a report about the tourists about 1pm on Sunday.

It said six tourists were tested in Mpumalanga while touring the Kruger National Park.

Soon thereafter they left Mpumalanga for KwaZulu-Natal. 

While in St Lucia, a popular tourist destination, lab results from Mpumalanga confirmed that two of the six had tested positive for Covid-19. 

“By the time the report came through they were enjoying themselves on a boat at St Lucia estuary with about 10 South Africans. The boat was put in isolation, with everyone still inside, while we waited for the department of health to arrive,” said a source. 

Addressing religious leaders and KZN premier Sihle Zikalala in Durban on Monday, Simelane-Zulu slammed the tourist companies for acting irresponsibly. 

"In St Lucia, in particular, there are companies that have continued to allow people who have come into the country to go on tours..

“Yesterday [Sunday] there were two boats that went into the St Lucia lake and on those boats we found two people who were positive. They were from Germany,” she said.