Eastern Cape funerals least compliant in SA, Bheki Cele tells premier

The Eastern Cape is the most non-complaint of South Africa's provinces when it comes to funeral attendances, and coronavirus links to funerals in Port St Johns and Port Elizabeth are accounting for growth in numbers.    

Eastern Cape premier Oscar Mabuyane said on Sunday he had received a call from national police minister Bheki Cele on Saturday in which the SAPS boss expressed his concern about the disturbing trend. 

Mabuyane was speaking at the East London Correctional Services Centre in West Bank on Sunday, where 26 people - 23 officials and three inmates - have tested positive for the virus.

Correctional services minister Ronald Lamola made the announcement during a visit to the facility on Sunday.

Statistics provided by the national health department on Saturday showed there were 68 positive coronavirus cases in the province. It could not be established whether the prison statistics were part of this number at the time of writing. 

Lamola said the first official who tested tested positive at the prison attended a funeral where she interacted with people who had been abroad.

Mabuyane said: “The two funerals - one in Port St Johns and the one in Port Elizabeth - are our headache here. Most of the cases that are now giving us this growth in the statistics are linked to those two funerals. It's a fact and of course this centre is linked to such funerals."  

“That is a challenge and we are working on it. We are above 90% in our tracing of individuals who are affected,” said Mabuyane.

Lamola said the test results of other officials and inmates at the prison were still to come in.

The total number of inmates at the East London Medium C Female Centre was 269 as of  Saturday. Two babies whose mothers tested positive were excluded from this number. 

Lamola said relatives of the two offenders would take care of the babies.

Thirty officials who came into contact with the official who first tested positive for the virus were requested to self-quarantine when this case was still a presumptive case.

He said there was a second positive case on April 8 when an official went for a private test.

On the same day, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)  conducted a mass screening of 268 offenders at Medium C in the female section, testing 30 inmates who showed symptoms of the virus, and also testing a total of 266 officials working at the centre.

On Saturday, 193 inmateswere tested in the Medium C female section and the remaining 46 offenders will be tested on Monday.

In relation to the results of the officials that tested last week, 21 officials in the Medium C female section tested positive and 40 officials tested negative.

“We await the results of 40 officials,” said Lamola.

Lamola said the had it not been for the national lockdown, the virus would have been spread further across the province.

“Mass testing in the entire East London Centre for both offenders and officials will continue. The NICD is tracing all those who were in contact with officials who tested positive so that they can self-quarantine until they are tested and cleared.

“We have taken immediate steps to prevent any potential spread of the virus arising from these recorded positive cases. We have identified single cells within the Medium C female centre which are designated as quarantine and isolation areas,” he said.

Lamola said officials working at these quarantine sites have been provided with disposable suits, gowns, shoe covers, N95 masks and eye shields.

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