Nasrec Expo Centre identified as potential quarantine site
The Gauteng Health Department says it is looking at additional quarantine facilities in the province and the Nasrec Expo Centre happens to be one that is being considered.
According to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, there are more than 600 people in Gauteng who have tested positive for COVID-19.
Nasrec Expo Centre considered for quarantine site
Gauteng Health Department spokesperson Kwara Kekana said they are considering using the centre as a health facility or quarantine facility to accommodate COVID-19 patients, however, nothing is set in stone at this stage.
Should the numbers continue to grow, Nasrec would be able to house large scores of ill patients.
“[The Gauteng Department of Health] is looking at various facilities for the purposes of quarantine for COVID-19 cases. Nasrec is one of those being considered,” said Kekana.
Why would Nasrec make for a good quarantine site?
According to expocentre.co.za, Nasrec is quite the venue.
“The Johannesburg Expo Centre (JEC) South Africa’s largest purpose-built exhibition, conference, convention and events venue is one of Johannesburg’s best-known landmarks.”
The Johannesburg Expo Centre is owned by the UK-based Montgomery Group and the International GL Events Group. Craig Newman Current President of UFI is the CEO of JEC.
Nasrec has hosted over 1 000 different events since the year 2 000, including the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF) second elective national conference.
In terms of the statistics, Nasrec can take more than 100 000 people in capacity. It is 30 minutes away from all major airports which is a key factor of convenience.
There are also more than 20 000 parking bays and there is 150 000 square metres of space.
Advanced technology for tracking and tracing
Mkhize said that Thursday 2 April started off in a very good way with the CEO of Samsung Sung Yoon handing over 1 500 mobile phones to the health department. In addition to this, Telkom sponsored the equivalent number of sim cards which will be loaded with three gigs of data each month.
“We will distribute these devices to our current places of most urgent need: Gauteng, Free State, Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal. 1 500 devices to assist our field workers with tracking and tracing COVID-19 contacts is a very good start however we are fielding 10 000 workers for community screening.” said Mkhize.
“We therefore call on all telecommunications companies to follow the lead of Samsung and Telkom and assist us to equip all 10 000 workers with devices.” he added.
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