The grace period of people travelling between provincial borders without permits is set to end at midnight before level 4 lockdown restrictions resume.
In a press statement, Health MEC, Sindiswa Gomba, expressed concerns over the high volume of people travelling from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape Province with a sizeable number of them testing positive for the novel corona virus.
She stated that on date, the number of travellers who tested for Covid-19 stood at 2090 while 29516 people were screened.
Fifty-six people who were travelling between the two provinces tested positive for the virus.
Gomba said: “We understand that inter-provincial travelling is allowed but having so many people who have tested positive for Covid-19 coming to the EC undermines the good work that we have been doing and continue doing.
“Why the 56 people were not tested in the Western Cape is beyond me. We need all provinces to work together in containing the spread of the virus.”
She said 78 other people from Cape Town were intercepted at Elliotdale before the seven day window period was introduced.
Meanwhile, a group of 110 travellers was rerouted to Mphekweni and Fish River in Port Alfred for screening and testing by health officials recently.
The MEC said the contacts of the people who tested positive for the virus were being traced.
EC currently has 849 confirmed Covid-19 cases with 388 recoveries and 18 deaths.
EC Transport MEC Weziwe Gxothiwe-Tikana was at the Tsitsikama Tall Plaza boarder between Eastern Cape and the Western Cape to asses the situation earlier this morning.
The department’s spokesperson, Unathi Binqose, reported in a live social media crossing that traffic flow was slow in the morning.
He said there were however a number of buses that came from the Western Cape at around 6am.
“We expect the volume of traffic to pick up quite significantly in the afternoon and to peak in the evening as people will be making their last minute movements between the two provinces.
“It may be permit free but people are still required to give their personal details for us to know who has crossed the border and from which particular area they came from including the dates,’’ Binqose said.
He said this was in case there were any Covid-19 outbreaks which health workers would have to trace.
Binqose added that the department of health workers were also operating at the border.
He said over 1600 people were screened for Covid-19 in the last 24 hours with no signs of the virus.
Binqose commended drivers and passengers for showing compliance with regulations at the border.
