The South African Football Association (Safa) have offered their National Technical Centre‚ formerly known as the Fun Valley Pleasure Resort‚ to the national and provincial governments as a venue a self-quarantine site for free.
Last month the government repatriated 122 South Africans from the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in Wuhan‚ China to the Ranch Resort outside Polokwane for a quarantine period.
Safa spokesperson Dominic Chimhavi said the Safa National Technical Centre was also being made available to the government for such eventualities at no cost.
By Friday morning‚ on day 15 of the national shutdown‚ the number of confirmed coronavirus cases that were reported in the country had escalated to 1‚934 with 18 deaths.
“As Safa we have written to both provincial and national governments to offer the Safa National Technical Centre as quarantine site‚” Chimhavi said.
“The facility is currently closed to the public because of this coronavirus outbreak and the lockdown that was announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa. We have over 100 rooms and beds that could be used as a site for quarantine.
“Obviously there is not much of a need for more beds now but in the event that numbers start increasing and there is an urgent need for beds the National Technical Centre is available for government.
“This is our way to play our role and support our government during this difficult time. As Safa we also want to send out a message to people out there to stay at home because we have to contain this virus.”
Last month‚ Safa suspended all football activities in the country as they joined the rest of the sporting world responding to the coronavirus (covid-19) pandemic.
“We have a responsibility to govern football and therefore protect the players. It’s not possible to play. Safa decided there would be no matches – that’s it‚” said Safa president Danny Jordaan at the time.
On Thursday night‚ Ramaphosa announced the extension of the nationwide lockdown by two more weeks‚ from the original end date of April 16‚ to April 30.
