An SABC employee who reportedly tested positive for COVID-19 was subsequently found to be negative by the same laboratory, a day after the announcement.
The employee, based at the public broadcaster’s Durban office, was told that an error had occurred in the test results.
These details were confirmed by the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC) in a statement issued today.
In the statement, SABC Spokeswoman Mmoni Seapolelo, said the broadcaster was concerned by the developments on the case as the SABC had followed all the protocols and its internal processes before making an announcement yesterday.
The broadcaster had announced yesterday that it had temporarily shut down its Durban office after one of its employees was confirmed to have tested positive for coronavirus.
“The confirmation for the positive test result that was reported yesterday, was based on the official lab results presented to the employee. The employee has since been alerted by the lab in question that an error occurred during the initial testing and the employee was presented with new test results, whose outcome was negative,” said Seapolelo in the statement.
She said the case has had a serious impact.
“The SABC can confirm that the Corporation is in possession of both tests results. It must be noted that as per the norm, the Corporation has duly followed and adhered to all the internal protocols prior to confirming the case impact on the organization as the SABC was forced to close the Durban office temporarily, while other staff members were also subjected to tests to confirm if they had not contracted the virus.”
The public broadcaster said following these new developments, it was intending to open the offices on Friday.
