Staff Reporter
A Grade 12 learner at Grey College in Bloemfontein has tested positive for COVID-19, the school has announced.
In a statement, the school said the learner initially complained of a headache and a cough.
“The learner, who lives in Pietermaritzburg and stays in one of our hostels, woke up on Tuesday morning with a headache and bad cough,” read part of the statement.
The learner, who returned to school on Sunday ahead of the schools phased reopening on Monday, becomes the first COVID-19 case at Grey College.
“As per hostel and school protocol, his temperature was measured on various occasions since the hostels opened on Sunday for the new school term and he was monitored daily but never developed a fever,” said the school.
His family was contacted and further tests confirmed he was positive for COVID-19.
Provincial education department spokesperson Howard Ndaba said in a separate statement the school will not be closed but his hostel has been cordoned off to allow for decontamination.
“The school will not be closed,” he said.
“Instead, the authorities will cordon off the affected areas where a learner who has tested positive has been to and the environment that the learner has interacted with.”
Ndaba said close contacts of the learner at the school have already been quarantined while other health protocols are pursued.
These include tracing his close contacts in Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal province as well as his grandparents in Bloemfontein.
“We appeal for calm amongst the school community, including teachers, learners and administrators, as the screening and decontamination is done,” he said.
Ndaba said joint teams from the education and health departments are working with staff at Grey College to ensure that adequate infection prevention and control measures are implemented.
Grey College is a public English and Afrikaans medium school for boys situated in Universitas, Bloemfontein.
It’s one of the top academic schools in the province.
Grey College was ranked first out of the top 100 best high schools in Africa by Africa Almanac in 2003 and 2013, based upon quality of education, student engagement, strength and activities of alumni, school profile as well as internet and news visibility.
Figures released by the national health department Tuesday night indicated that the Free State now has a total of 370 confirmed COVID-19 cases, 10 deaths and 162 recoveries.
This means there are 198 active cases in the province.
Cases in KZN have slowed down in recent weeks but that province remains a cause for concern for health authorities as it now has 3 255 confirmed cases, 62 deaths and 1 566 recoveries.