Business as usual at SA police stations
It is business as usual at two large employers in the country - especially for staff who can’t perform their functions from home.
National police spokesperson Brig Vish Naidoo said all police precincts throughout the country were in operation, including their 10111 call centres.
“Since the outbreak of the coronavirus, SA Police Service management has embarked on extensive internal awareness campaigns educating our members on the dos and don'ts related to Covid-19. We are guided by the department of health in this regard,” he said.
He said management had also sent out a directive that all precincts throughout the country must procure equipment, as well as consumables that will help prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Naidoo said the procured material and equipment will be for the use by police as well as visitors to these respective precincts.
With regards to the handling of suspects and awaiting-trial prisoners, Naidoo said a procedure had been designed, together with the department of correctional services, for the use of their members.
On Sunday, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that all gatherings of more than 100 people will be prohibited as a measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus in the country.
Meanwhile, Discovery Heath CEO Dr Ryan Noach told TimesLIVE that the company fully supports the measures announced by Ramaphosa and have taken steps to protect their staff and their families from the coronavirus.
Noach said that by the end of this week they would have more than 2,500 employees working from home. This would create increased space between staff who will continue to work in their offices.
“These measures ensure that those who are unable to work from home have significant spatial separation in the emptier offices and consequently are protected in equal measure to those who are,” he said.
He said another measure introduced by the company was closing all Discovery buildings to external visitors from Wednesday until further notice, as well as coordinating any visitor meetings virtually.
“We are also implementing a more robust cleaning regime throughout our buildings nationwide, deploying alcohol-based hand sanitiser units across all campuses, particularly in high-traffic spaces, and encouraging their use in addition to proper hand washing,” said Noach.
He said upcoming events organised for brokers and financial advisers, usually “in-person” events, will instead be hosted virtually via webcam.