The Mpumalanga department of health has taken a decision to temporarily close Malalane Superspar at the Nkomazi municipality after two employees of the store tested positive for coronavirus.
In a letter sent to the municipal manager of Ehlanzeni district Sgananda Siboza, head of health department Dr Savera Mohangi requested that the shop be closed for at least 24 hours to be decontaminated and also to help the department to track primary contacts of the two cases.
It's not clear if the officials from the Ehlanzeni district municipality have got to the store yet.
“The provincial department of health has confirmed two cases who are working at the Malalane Superspar. One case is working as a merchandiser and the other is working at foreign exchange within the Superspar premises. The two cases we tested and received positive results for Covid-19 and were isolated.
"It is therefore very critical for the supermarket to be temporarily closed to also allow the department of health to identify and isolate primary contacts of the confirmed cases, and to enhance deep cleaning, decontamination, and provision of additional sanitation to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
Department of health in Mpumalanga closes Superspar after two staff members test posivite for Covid-19
The Mpumalanga department of health has taken a decision to temporarily close Malalane Superspar at the Nkomazi municipality after two employees of the store tested positive for coronavirus.
In a letter sent to the municipal manager of Ehlanzeni district Sgananda Siboza, head of health department Dr Savera Mohangi requested that the shop be closed for at least 24 hours to be decontaminated and also to help the department to track primary contacts of the two cases.
It's not clear if the officials from the Ehlanzeni district municipality have got to the store yet.
“The provincial department of health has confirmed two cases who are working at the Malalane Superspar. One case is working as a merchandiser and the other is working at foreign exchange within the Superspar premises. The two cases we tested and received positive results for Covid-19 and were isolated.
"It is therefore very critical for the supermarket to be temporarily closed to also allow the department of health to identify and isolate primary contacts of the confirmed cases, and to enhance deep cleaning, decontamination, and provision of additional sanitation to prevent the spread of coronavirus.
"The supermarket is at a high risk to transmit the virus to the employees and the community who use it to procure consumables. This is a realisation of the major threat to the community of Nkomazi and operation of the supermarket. The deparment of health is requesting the Ehlanzeni district management team to enforce the regulations that are in line with the prevention and control of communicable diseases. Please request and advise Superspar manager to temporarily close the shop for a period of 24 hours and conduct a full decontamination of the shop with immediate effect,” said Mohangi in the letter.
Spokesperson of the Ehlanzeni district municipality Lucky Ngomane told Sowetan that they are going to be at the store on Monday morning.
“Yes, we got the letter from the HOD [head of department], our team with be at the store tomorrow morning and the Nkomazi local municipality have also been informed,” said Ngomane.
The store owner Lex Hollmann have been interacting with the public through the store's Facebook page, assuring them that the store have been decontaminated, showing how they cleaned the whole shop after closure since the first case was detected two weeks ago.