Tshwane community safety and emergency services MMC Karen Meyer. Picture: Jacques Naude/African News Agency(ANA)
Pretoria - Karen Meyer, the City of Tshwane’s MMC for community safety and emergency services has warned young people in Pretoria to behave responsibly amid the second wave and a new variant of the coronavirus.
The City of Tshwane was confirmed as a hotspot for the virus by President Cyril Ramaphosa, and according to Meyer, this meant that the risk of infection was higher for people in hotspot areas. She said this also meant the virus was escalating at an alarming rate which also meant everyone needed to be vigilant and understand the need to stay home, sanitise, wash hands and wear a mask.
“People have to be responsible and we do hope that people adhere to the regulations because it is the most effective to be the virus.”
“We will be in the streets in the city patrolling and observing several areas and we have been going there to see what has been happening,” she said.
Meyer said they trusted that people would be safe and responsible this new year and look at how our behaviour impacted other people and put their lives at stake.
She emphasised on avoiding any places with groups of people if it was not really necessary to be there at all.
Philip Nel Park, Pretoria West, Prinshof, Asiatic Bazaar and Pretoria Central have the most cases and most of them were between the age of 30- 39.
Meyer said everyone had a role to play as residents of Tshwane to ensure that they were taken off the hotspot list and that meant it was not up to one department, sector or entity to be responsible.
“We call out to the young community thinking this will not happen to them, to remember that they could spread this virus to their family members and that is totally irresponsible and selfish,” she said.
She added that since international borders were not closed, people travelling back to Gauteng, specifically Tshwane needed to plan accordingly to the hours of the curfew.
Meyer said if for example people were travelling from Cape Town they needed to organise accommodation in time of the curfew and ensure they are not on the road by 9PM.
“It takes a bit of planning but we need to adhere to the new regulations.”
“We anticipate there will be people that need to go to work during the curfew especially people working in shifts as well,” she said.
Meyer said employees would need to get a letter from their respective company or organisation they work for and ensure that they certify the documents at their nearest police station.
She concluded that if everyone worked together the sooner they could all get back to their lives and continue to strengthen and save the economy.
Pretoria News