30 Apr 2020

Medical officers deployed at Siviya in the North East District for the second contact tracing exercise have lauded Siviya residents for their cooperation.

In an interview with BOPA on April 29, head of Siviya medical team, Dr Rapelang Peter said Siviya people had welcomed his team with open arms.

He stated that ever since the commencement of the contact tracing and testing on April 27, they had collected 200 specimen.

Dr Peter said it was evident that Siviya leadership had done an excellent job to raise awareness on the arrival of the technical team because every household welcomed his team.

He highlighted that the ward councillor had embarked on a publicity assignment over the weekend to sensitise residents about the tracing exercise, hence it helped prepare people for the ongoing contact tracing.

He further stated that upon the arrival of his technical team on April 27, they convened with the kgosi, councillor, head teacher and police officers for them to appreciate the objectives and expected outcomes of the exercise.

Dr Peter stated that the second contact tracing was aimed at tracing all contacts of the first 36 contacts of the COVID-19 patient.

Therefore, he said a large number of contacts was to be expected due to the fact that people had been mingling at public gatherings including funerals.

He highlighted that they experienced a variation in the pattern of contacts in that one may have a large web of contacts due to their lifestyle or family dynamics while another person may only have a few contacts.

Dr Peter said so far, there were some wards in the village they had not been to, adding that all the remaining wards would be reached as long as there was a contact there.

He said the process would be conducted for an indefinite period depending on the numbers of people traced.

The head of delegation indicated that the team was concentrating on contact tracing in Siviya, however stating that if another contact was reported to have crossed to another location, the team would follow that contact up for testing. Ends