CAPE TOWN -
The Western Cape Education Department (WCED) has reported that 379 learners who have tested positive for Covid-19 since the schools reopened.
This comes to 0.1 percent of learners in the grades that have returned to school with the majority of the children already recovered and no reported deaths.
A total of 1 920 cases were reported for teachers, non-teaching staff and office-based staff, of which 1 557 have recovered and a total of 30 deaths.
“Over half of Western Cape schools have not reported a positive case. Of the schools that have reported a positive case of Covid-19 to their district office, the majority (72.4 percent) have only reported one or two cases at their school,” said Education MEC Debbie Schäfer.
“Thus, we are not seeing evidence of mass spreading of the virus at schools. It should also be remembered that a case reported by a school does not necessarily mean that the individual was infected at the school.
“We do expect to see cases reported by schools in areas where there is high community transmission. What we are not seeing is evidence that staff or learners are at greater risk of acquiring Covid-19 at school than elsewhere,” she said.
Schäfer added that the organisations who have been monitoring the schools noted that learners practice better physical distancing and hygiene measures at school than they do outside of school.
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