Eastern Cape premier mulls total shutdown to counter virus

Premier Oscar Mabuyane is lobbying national government to consider extending the national lockdown — and locking it even tighter.

He said on Thursday that the provincial government was using phone tracking to trace close contacts of people who had tested positive for the virus.

In a sign of the times, the premier held a virtual press briefing via Zoom, giving an overview of the pandemic's impact in the province to date as well as providing an update on the East London prison where an official tested positive for Covid-19.

Mabuyane said for the most part people were abiding by the lockdown regulations in metropolitan areas, but there were difficulties in the rural areas as a good number of rural residents still needed to be in towns.

“I know the relaxation of regulations has also contributed. We are engaging national as a province to say probably in the next 21 days we really need to consider something beyond just a lockdown — a sort of a shutdown, just to see to what extent that will go in flattening the curve,” he said.

“We've seen shutdowns where towns become ghost towns for a week. We believe we need that sort of shutdown — a bit — so that we are able to make an assessment.”

Mabuyane said the lockdown was not being adhered to at an “optimal level”, but he stressed that a large percentage of the province's communities were law-abiding.

He said the Nelson Mandela Bay metro, which accounts for 30 of the province's 45 cases, was the epicentre of the virus in the province.

He said: “Smaller numbers are coming in our district municipalities. We're working on intensifying our programme with mass testing, mass screening and of course we acknowledge challenges and teething problems in terms of the lockdown.”

Mabuyane said the problems escalated when  social grant beneficiaries received their money. This meant towns were crammed full of people in the first week of a new month.

“It's still going on until the 14th, some are getting their money from cash points. It makes it difficult because rural people still have to go to towns to get their food.”

Mabuyane said the government was  involving street committees to lessen the burden on law enforcement agencies.

Mabuyane on Thursday visited the East London correctional services centre where at least one Covid-19 case was confirmed this week.

“We monitored and did an evaluation exercise. It might be a national mandate [correctional service], but it is here in the Buffalo City Metro. Whatever happens actually directly affects our people.”

He said he was happy with measures to fight Covid-19 put in place by the prison.

Mabuyane said officials conducted mass testing, including on inmates who may have come into contact with the virus.

The premier said his office, provincial health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases had a camaraderie and were “doing relatively well” in fighting the coronavirus.

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