All 48 students at Mthatha B&B test negative for virus

Forty-eight university students who caused consternation among Mthatha residents when they were quarantined at a local B&B have all been given a clean bill of health for Covid-19.

This has been confirmed by health MEC Sindiswa Gomba.

On March 31, the departments of health and transport succumbed to pressure from the Mthatha community to remove the 48 students from the B&B.

Three buses ferrying the  students had been stopped at a roadblock near the Shell Ultra City in Mthatha on March 29.

The students and their drivers were prevented from travelling any further because they came from the Western Cape, which had a higher incidence of virus cases, and were then housed at the B&B.

Stanley Nelson Drive residents were outraged, fearing the health risk.

Gomba said: “We had to act quickly as there were reports from the neighbours that the students were jumping over the fence of the B&B and roaming the streets.''

The students were tested for the coronavirus at the health department’s Mthatha Resource Centre. They were released to their respective families, though their results were still pending.

Gomba’s spokesperson, Judgy Ngoloyi, said: ''We have received the results of all the 48 university students who were travelling from Cape Town in the Western Cape.

“We are happy and relieved that all the students have tested negative."

Stanley Nelson Drive community spokesperson Vusumzi Msiwa said residents were concerned that the B&B had contravened the regulations set out by law to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The residents welcomed the fact that all the students had tested negative.

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