The charter flight which embarked on Tuesday night to evacuate South African citizens from coronavirus-hit China landed at Gateway airport in Polokwane, Limpopo province, Saturday morning.
Clad in protective gear, the airport staff off-loaded the luggage from the giant aircraft to the four buses lined-up in wait for carrying them to The Ranch Resort, one of the Protea hospitality businesses in SA.
The Ranch Resort is a private getaway facility 30 kilometers away from the provincial airport – the northern part of the country – in Polokwane.
The Homecoming citizens will be kept at the resort for 21 days for they come from Wuhang and Hubei, regions affected by Covid-19 outbreak the most in China.
Speaking through the Minister of Health Dr. Zweli Mkhize, the SA government decided to isolate them because they are returning from a coronavirus-infested area. The recommended isolation period is 14 days. Neither one of these evacuees are ill nor Covid-19 positive according to government communication.
14-day Quarantine
On Thursday, Dr. Mkhize underscored that the cooling-off period (that restricts the immediate integration of the expats) after returning home as a precautionary measure by the South African government to allay fears in the country.
It is believed the expats will live an ordinary lifestyle but with limited interactions at their isolation location. Nevertheless, those who lived together in China will continue to do so at the resort.
For Covid-19 risk mitigation reasons, social distancing will be observed as it is encouraged by health experts across the world.
The reunion of the evacuees with their relatives and integration with the general public in communities will happen after a period of 14 days. For this reason, their release will remain subject to the satisfaction of all the medical requirements.
According to eNCA, the aeroplane carried 122 citizens evacuated from Wuhang, a city in China, understood as the source of the novel coronavirus which broke out late last year.
Ministerial Committee and Government Guarantees
The repatriation mission was conducted by the South African National Defense Force (SANDF) with a charter flight. And, indeed, the cabin crew and medical officers from the SANDF together with the Health Department staff will be part of the group to be quarantined for three weeks.
The SANDF worked closely with the Ministerial Committee consisting of National Departments of Health, Home Affairs, Cooporative Gorvenance and Traditional Affairs among others.
The SA government has given assurances and certain guarantees to every person involved in the whole evacuation and quarantine operation.
That it would take care of but not limited to their health cover during and, to an extent, post-operation, financial compensation and their immediate needs like accommodation and upkeep.
All the returnees, soldiers, cabin crew, medics and employees at the Ranch Resort will receive diagnostic examination to pick up any infections or symptoms of Covid-19.
In the event that there are those who may require medical attention, authorities have made arrangements to remove them from the quarantined group at the resort for the safety of everybody concerned.
However, the Minister of Health reassured South Africans time and again that none of the expatriates are sick. They are all healthy, emphasised Dr. Mkhize.
Covid-19 and Symptoms
Novel coronavirus epidemic causes a disease the World Health Organization named Covid-19. Among the widely known symptoms are fever, cough and shortness of breath.
Health specialists say the incubation period – “time from exposure to the development of symptoms” – of the pandemic is 2-14 days. The conditions of Covid-19 can be mild and severe but, they can be lethal as already proven with 5, 000 plus deaths recorded worldwide.
It is this incubation period inter alia that is dealing the world a deadly blow. For this reason in particular, it is highly possible for a person who has been exposed to another Covid-19-infected person to slip through the tests or systems of examination and be cleared without showing any symptoms.
By the time a person becomes symptomatic, it is too late because that person would have long integrated in the society. This is how Covid-19 is going viral in many countries, experts imputed.
Again, when a person starts to show symptoms and tests positive, a retrospective process kicks in. A full launch of tracing contacts is unraveled. An enumerate number of resources is unleashed because contacts with the patient must be established. Then their contacts. A web of contacts of other contacts extrapolates exponentially.
Largely, the contagious human-to-human transmission spreads through droplets from sneezing and coughing and contact with an infected person. The droplets may fall on surfaces and any contact may lead to infection, especially if a person touches the face, mouth, noses, eyes, et cetera.
On Jan. 30, 2020, World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern” and on Mar. 11, 2020, characterized it as a “pandemic”. WHO, through its Director-general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, posted on its Twitter account @WHO that:
“We have never before seen a pandemic sparked by a #coronavirus. And we have never before seen a pandemic that can be controlled at the same time. WHO has been in full response mode since we were notified of the first cases“- @DrTedros
No Cure Yet
At this point, there is no vaccine targeted directly to cure the malaise. Health specialists and governments advise citizens to practice clean hygiene by covering themselves when coughing and sneezing, and exercise social distancing.
China has managed to slow down the spread of coronavirus and tens of thousands of patients have recovered.
Key to their milestones are testing and tracing contacts, quarantining, disinfecting public spaces, social distancing and clean hygiene.