Correctional Services reports 6 more Covid-19 cases

The number of inmates who have tested positive at East London Correctional Centre now stands at 56.

This while 29 officials have also tested positive for the virus - 26 in East London, one at St Albans, one at Worcester and one at the department’s head office.

The department's Singabakho Nxumalo says measures are being put in place to prevent the virus from spreading.

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"We have to finalise the batch of inmates who are testing at St Albans to make sure that there was no transmission.

"In East London, we asked a few (officials) to come in for testing, because their shifts may have ended before we started with mass screening and testing.”

Nxumalo says the department has also identified spaces for quarantine and self-isolation should the numbers increase.

"We follow the guidelines as provided by the organisation where those who have come into contact with positive cases are quarantined.

"For inmates, we do have sections where we can quarantine them and those in isolation we have cells dedicated to them.

"But we have also procured park homes in case the numbers do increase. In terms of officials, we do have guest houses in our centres.

"We are utilising those houses for officials".