Douglasdale Police Station reopens after officer tests positive

The Douglasdale Police Station has reopened its doors on Saturday 11 April after an officer tested positive. The police station briefly closed so that it could be sanitised

According to EWN, the staff member contracted the virus while on duty outside the Gauteng province. As a precautionary measure, the police station was evacuated in order to sanitise and decontaminate the area.

Douglasdale police officers undergo screening 

Police spokesperson Brigadier Vishnu Naidoo said: “We’ve contacted the Department of Health. All the members that may have been possibly affected are undergoing screening and testing, but in the meantime, service delivery at the station has not been compromised,” he said. 

“A temporary station has been set up outside the police station where the community can come in and make reports, lodge complaints, and so forth,” he added. 

Naidoo said the station was expected to be operational by Monday morning, however, it took just a few hours to decontaminate. In the meantime, members of the public are encouraged to make use of alternative police stations in Diepsloot, Honeydew and Sandton.

The Douglasdale police station also sent out an urgent message on Facebook: 

“Please find an urgent message from our Station Commander for your immediate attention. Please note that the Douglasdale Police Station is on lockdown due to a positive case at the station.”

“This is a temporary measure while all necessary sanitising is conducted,” it added. 

Three SANDF members test positive 

This time it wasn’t a police officer from the Douglasdale Police Station — this time it’s the military. 

The South African National Defence Force (SANDF) announced that three of its own have tested positive. 

A total of 125 soldiers from 184 suspected cases have been tested — three came back positive. 

According to a statement issued out by the army, 15 more soldiers are still awaiting results. Lieutenant General Zola Dabula says the SANDF is taking deliberate measures to prepare for a possible overflow in military hospitals and sickbays.

“The SA Military Health Service (SAMHS) is working around the clock to hinder and inhibit this fast-advancing destructive and unseen enemy,” said Dabula. 

“There have been malicious and irresponsible statements doing the rounds to the effect that we are giving our members in the frontline substandard protective gear, which include thermal scanners, masks, and gloves among other things. This is unfair and unfounded,” added Dabula.