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“It’s a false narrative. Self-created narrative by those who want to project an impression that in Gauteng we don’t quite [know] how many people are positive. That’s false.”
Makhura said the province had had 220 positive cases reported two days ago and those numbers were due to the 196 workers who tested positive at Anglo Gold Ashanti mine.
He added after results returned positive, the government was able to locate where they were coming from – and if they were from one area, checked whether there were no cluster outbreaks and then establish interventions needed.
Makhura was speaking at Sibanye Stillwaters Gold Mine after meeting with mining houses and unions. He was joined by the MECs for health and infrastructure development Bandile Masuku and Tasneem Motara, respectively.
Schools
The provincial command council said it was concerned about the growing number of cases in mines which would affect communities in the area.
Makhura said contact tracing in the province was at 99% and was being done well.
He added testing in areas such as Ekurhuleni and Ivory Park in Tembisa had been ramped up and the province was satisfied the spread was not as wide as was anticipated.
Makhura said a similar approach would be taken on the West Rand, which has since been classified a hotspot due to the positive tests from mineworkers.
He added tests were already being conducted in the affected mining areas, saying where the government had picked up new areas with cases, it had gone in, tested, isolated and treated people.
Makhura said the entire West Rand was not affected and therefore schools in the area would not be affected.
He added Education MEC Panyaza Lesufi was conducting visits at schools to ensure they were compliant and had safety measures in place.
“When you have a hotspot it doesn’t mean you cannot have schooling in those areas. A district or a metro can be a hotspot as a result of one area. The key issue is: ‘What do you do to contain the spread in that area?'”
Makhura said it was important for the province to get to the areas where there were reports of new cases.
He added because there was no vaccine, the province would not be able to stop the spread of the virus but could only contain it by screening, testing, embarking on contact tracing and raising public awareness.
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