East London police officer tests positive for Covid-19

An East London police officer has tested positive for Covid-19.

The infected officer is stationed at an office in the CBD. DispatchLIVE understands she  tested at a private doctor's  surgery on Monday and received her results on Wednesday.

National police spokesperson, brigadier Vish Naidoo confirmed that a member of the provincial Family Violence, Child Protection and Sexual Offences Investigations (FCS) unit tested positive.

She  is a junior office, according to Naidoo. There are about 20 members in the CBD office, and they have all been placed in quarantine.

Police and Prisons Civil Rights Union provincial secretary Zamikhaya Sikade has called for all his colleagues to undergo testing.

Sikade said: “The office must be properly decontaminated. Everybody must be tested and the office temporarily closed pending the process of decontamination and testing.

“That is the approach we have taken with the department of correctional services and it is the same approach we think the SAPS should follow,” Sikade said.

SA Police Union president Mpho Kwinika called on police officers to stop behaving as though they were  “immune to the virus”.

“We need to have full gear for our members. There is a great likelihood that a high number of members — we are expecting  about 70% —  will be infected. Our members are under severe pressure to service South Africans. The government says every South African is expected to wear a mask yet police do not have masks.

“We have been asking that officers are screened when they come in and knock off duty to protect them and stop them from spreading the virus. We don't want South Africans to say they were infected by the police. No one should work without protective gear to meet the standard of protection,” Kwinika said.

He said officers needed to stop filling cars like “sardines”.

“It's important that they adhere to the guidelines.”

An officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the officer has been in quarantine since Monday.

“What we know is that she visited her in-laws about two weeks ago and she came back and worked on returning from the visit. She went to test on Monday after she learnt that her father-in-law contracted the virus,” the source said.

“There are about 20 of us in the office but each member has their own office. The problem is that when it was time to do parades, we would all be in one vicinity. That is an everyday occurrence.”

He said officers feared for their lives and those of their families.

“We share the same entrance, kitchen, toilets and administration office. We had all the necessary PPE to protect ourselves and we practise hygiene as it is stipulated. Our fear is that we might have it [the virus] as well.”

Naidoo said all members were informed of their colleague testing positive on Thursday morning.

“The confirmed case was only reported late yesterday [Wednesday]. The unit has been evacuated and all necessary protocols are being followed. Screening and testing is part of the protocol I mentioned,” he said.

In the officers' absence,  the SAPS provincial office will be attending to its work.

Two weeks ago, 50 police officers in Butterworth demanded to be tested and quarantined after the son of one of their colleagues tested positive for Covid-19.

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