Sixty-six (66) deportees from South Africa have tested positive for COVID-19 when they were tested at the Beitbridge Border Post.
The 66 deportees were part of 220 Zimbabweans, among them seven ex-convicts, who were deported from the neighbouring country by road in a convoy of four buses.
The move to deport the migrants is part of South Africas’ plans to de-congest migrants’ holding centres and minimize the rate of new Covid-19 infections.
Beitbridge’s District Medical Officer Dr Lenos Samhere said those who tested positive had been put into isolation. Said Dr Samhere:
_We have put them into isolation pending further management. So far we have engaged the Department of Social Development to put the rest of the group (154 people) into quarantine facilities closer to their final destinations._
_You will note that the concentration of the group is too much, and hence we have to take due diligence to minimize the risk of new infections in the community._
It is understood that most of those deported had finished serving varied jail terms while others had violated immigration laws.
This is the largest batch of deportees to arrive via Beitbridge since the beginning of the year.
More: Pindula News; The Herald