A laboratory worker places a test tube containing a patient's sample into a box during a coronavirus detection test. Picture: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/Bloomberg
Kimberley - The work of the Sol Plaatje City Council has had to be put on hold after 12 councillors, who attended lectures at Fort Hare University, had to go into quarantine.
The councillors are doing their Diploma in Local Government and attended lectures at the university earlier this week.
The University of Fort Hare announced earlier this week the institution had recorded 33 cases of Covid-19 in the space of a week.
The 33 cases included two staff members who had contracted the virus.
University spokesperson Tandi Mapukata said they were in the process of securing a quarantine site for the East London campus, in addition to the 134-bed quarantine and isolation facility in Alice.
“The university is working very closely with the Eastern Cape Department of Health with being able to undertake more tests at our East London campus. We continue to test and we are acquiring more quarantine sites.”
She added university venue-based gatherings were not allowed and all meetings would continue to be held virtually.
“We are now stopping all gatherings on campus. Lecturing, teaching and learning will still continue to happen remotely. We are also stopping people we consider high risk, that is people with comorbidities.”
Municipal spokesperson, Thoko Riet, confirmed the 12 councillors who had attended lectures at the institution were required to go into self-quarantine.
“As a result the Ordinary Council Meeting, scheduled for Wednesday, October 28, has been postponed indefinitely, while so have a number of committee meetings.”
She added the affected councillors were not back yet and it was not certain at this stage whether they would be required to isolate in East London or be able to return to Kimberley.
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