Tongaat Hulett Closes Its 22 Schools After 8 Staff Members Tested Positive For Coronavirus

 

Zimbabwe’s largest sugar manufacturer, Tongaat Hulett last week closed all of its schools in Triangle and Hippo Valley after staff members reportedly tested positive for covid-19.

iHarare established from the Sunday News that eight staff members including the school head, teachers and non-teaching staff at Mufakose High School in Triangle tested positive for Covid-19 last week.

To curb the spread of the virus Tongaat Hulett decided to close all of its 22 schools on Thursday 10 November.

However, only Zimsec exam candidates will be allowed to write their examinations at the schools under strict government and World Health Organisation(WHO) covid-19 safety protocols.

 Tongaat Hulett spokesperson Ms Adelite Chikunguru said the company decided to close its schools to curb the spread of the virus among staff and pupils.

“It is unfortunate that one of our schools reported cases of Covid-19. We have closed all schools that are being run by Tongaat Hulett in the Lowveld so that we try and minimise the possible spread of the pandemic. We had stringent protocols that we have been following since the schools opened in September and we had not had any case of Covid-19.

“The new cases at one of our schools are unfortunate and we have made sure that the affected people receive best health care. We have state of the art healthcare facilities at Tongaat Hulett and we are also working with the Rapid Response Team and the Ministry of Health and Child Care to ensure that the situation is under control. We continue to follow Government guidelines on Covid-19,” she said.

Tongaat Hulett said in a written memo to its employees that 51 people came into direct contact with one of the 8 persons who tested positive for covid-19 at Mufakose High School.

The memo states that the 51 people who came into contact with the primary source were tested for the virus and were currently in self-quarantine while their PCR test results are being processed.

“Of the 66 primary contacts that have been investigated so far, 15 were tested and 11 turned out to be positive. A total of 51 secondary contacts were tested, six of the 14 ran tests were positive. Other 37 results are not yet out,” reads part of the memo.