GOVT BRINGS BACK RAPID SCREENING AT ROADBLOCKS

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.  

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