"The mining industry is becoming SA’s new Covid-19 epicentre"

More than a half of the total Covid-19 coronavirus cases in North West, which has more than doubled its numbers in just a week, are in the mining industry. North West had recorded a total of 523 Covid-19 cases by Sunday, while the Minerals Council SA revealed that the mining industry in the province had 198 confirmed cases on Friday. This has raised fears that the industry is becoming a new epicentre and that the Covid-19 curve could remain on a steep upward trajectory, with even more mine workers, including those who had been at home in neighbouring countries, set to return to work in the coming weeks. In its latest figures, the Mineral Council SA has revealed that the mining industry has recorded 572 Covid-19 cases – Gauteng leads with 294 cases; it is followed by North West and then Limpopo with 75...

Provincial Health MEC Madoda Sambatha said the numbers in North West showed the “direct impact of mining operations” on Covid-19 cases, and emphasised the need for things to be done differently as mining companies bring back most of their employees in lockdown level 3. Sambatha reiterated the need for precautionary measures in the industry to be beefed up as more mine workers return to work. “We have told mining companies that those bringing people back must say where they are coming from and each returning mine worker must go into a 14-day quarantine before getting to work. Contact tracing must also not only be limited to workplace contacts, but must include where the worker stays and where they originally came from,” he said...

The Minerals Council SA has promised to implement aggressive screening of workers before they return to work, as well as quarantining those who return from neighbouring countries. The council said about 9 500 mine workers were expected to return mainly from Mozambique and Lesotho. Head of health at the Mineral Council SA, Thuthula Balfour, said not all of the workers were going to come back to South Africa because some were susceptible to catching Covid-19, such as those who were older than 60 and others who had comorbidities that were not under control.