Staff Reporter
A clinic in the Free State has been temporarily closed after people associated with the health facility tested positive for COVID-19.
The clinic is in Heilbron in the Fezile Dabi district.
Provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi told The Free Stater that nine people in the town, including some associated with the clinic, had tested positive for the coronavirus.
“There are nine people that tested positive for COVID-19 at Heilbron and some of them are associated with the clinic,” he said Tuesday night.
In a statement that Mondli sent out earlier, the provincial health department announced it had dispatched a mobile clinic to service the small northern Free State farming town.
“The clinic in Heilbron is temporarily closed due to some people associated with it who tested COVID-19-positive,” read part of the statement.
“The Department of Health apologises for any inconvenience that this temporary closure may have caused.
“We are deploying the services of a mobile health bus service which will be stationed outside Heilbron clinic until the situation . . . is brought under control.
“We are tracing all the contacts of people who have tested positive to ensure that we curb the spread of the virus.
On Sunday, the provincial health department said it was watching closely the situation in Fezile Dabi following a sudden spike in COVID-19 cases in the area.
This after the district recorded 24 new confirmed cases, bringing its tally to 33 in most of its major towns.
The health department attributed the spike to the availability of more test results released by the National Health Laboratory Service (NHLS) in recent weeks after a backlog.
The Heilbron community has been urged to remain calm and continue practising basic health hygiene and observing social distancing at all times.
Popular for cattle production as well as dairy, sorghum, sunflower and maize industries, Heilbron also serves as a dormitory town for the Gauteng metropolis.