State-owned power producer Eskom said on Saturday that it has handed its Academy of Learning centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, over to government to be used as a quarantine site.
The facility has 416 beds and other facilities. It will be used to accommodate people who have to undergo a period of quarantine and observation for signs of the Covid-19 virus.
Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter said the handover of the facility was meant to aid government efforts to contain the spread of the virus.
“In accordance with our own values of Zero Harm and Sinobuntu, Eskom pledges to be an active and responsive partner to the people of South Africa as we embark on this unprecedented struggle against the common enemy that is the COVID-19 pandemic,” de Ruyter said.
Sifiso Maseko, head of infrastructure at the Gauteng Health Department, said making the facility available will help contribute to the department’s efforts to find about 1000 beds to accommodate its guests in facilities that still afford them the privacy and dignity. Gauteng is the epicentre of the virus in the country with more than 400 confirmed cases out of the 1170 reported so far across the country.
