Times Of Swaziland: GOVT BRINGS BACK RAPID SCREENING AT ROADBLOCKS

GOVT BRINGS BACK RAPID SCREENING AT ROADBLOCKS
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Sibusiso Zwane on 23/03/2021 16:41:00


MANZINI - Rapid screening for COVID-19 at roadblocks is back.
Following reports that the third wave of COVID-19 has already hit some countries
in the African continent, government has brought back the rapid screening at
roadblocks. As a result, people who are using public transport when travelling
to Manzini had to alight from the buses and kombis and queue for temperature
screening at a roadblock at Mhlaleni in Matsapha, along the MR 3 Highway.
Mainly, the police officers and officers from His Majesty’s Correctional
Services (HMCS), who are deployed at the roadblock, screen the public by
checking their body temperatures.
Even though this process is meant to protect lives, members of the public have
raised a concern that the screening process was affecting them as most of the
time, the queue would be long, something which delayed them. Some of them
suggested that government should at least buy more thermo-scanners and deploy
more officers to conduct the screening so that the queues of vaccinators could
move fast. One of the passengers claimed that it took him over 30 minutes to
arrive in Manzini from Eteni in Matsapha, because of the queue at the roadblock.
Under normal circumstances, he said he usually took between 10 and 15 minutes to
travel from his place of residence to Manzini. Chief Police Information and
Communications Officer Superintendent Phindile Vilakati said they were
continuing to screen members of the public at roadblocks.
Restrictions
She said since government had adjusted the COVID-19 restrictions, there was a
need to tighten their monitoring strategies. “However, we are doing it using
guidance from the Ministry of Health,” the police mouthpiece said. Thereafter,
she urged members of the public to cooperate with the officers who were deployed
at the roadblocks as the process was meant to protect their lives. It is worth
noting that by close of business on Sunday, the country had recorded a total 17
286 cases of COVID-19 and 16 044 of them had recovered. The country had also
recorded 665 deaths that are related to COVID-19.