Community screening has been taking place in the Western Cape since the beginning of the week, and this is helping Government find more positive cases of COVID-19 within clustered neighbourhoods. Once the person who is infected is put into self-isolation, it dramatically decreases how the virus spreads.
Many of the province’s high-density areas are lower income neighbourhoods, and here, people often struggle to feed themselves and their families on a normal day. With the lockdown in place, many places of business are closed. This means that they are losing money, and with this may come retrenchments. Either way, the employees of those companies do not then have a stable source of income.
Western Cape Government has made a fund available to provide relief for those who have a family member who has been diagnosed with the coronavirus.
These are the criteria to be met for access to food relief from government:
– Only family members of someone who has been infected with the coronavirus and are in isolation in their homes may have access to the food relief fund
– The family members of the person diagnosed with COVID-19 have insufficient means of sustaining themselves during lockdown
– A person who is on chronic medication and has no sufficient means of sustaining themselves. In this case, it must be verified by a medical doctor, local clinic or registered medical practitioner
– A person and their household who has no means of sustaining themselves during the lockdown period and has been referred to government by a registered humanitarian relief agency, registered NPO or local municipality
* Those who do not receive a SASSA grant will be prioritised
Those who may be eligible for food relief can contact the Department of Social Development on 0800 220 250 between 7am and 4pm, from Monday to Friday. A “please call me” can also be sent to 079 769 1207.
Those who wish to make donations can call the Department on 0860 142 142 between 7am and 7pm, from Mondays to Sundays.
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