by Thinus Ferreira
eMedia's daily Afrikaans TV news bulletin eNuus produced for kykNET (DStv 144) and kykNET & Kie (DStv 145) on MultiChoice satellite pay-TV service was disrupted on Saturday after a colleague tested positive for the Covid-19 coronavirus causing a shutdown of the Hyde Park newsroom in Johannesburg for deep cleaning.
It's not clear when eNuus will be done live from its Hyde Park location again.
eNuus anchor Genée Heyl told viewers on Saturday evening at 19:00 that the daily episode was pre-recorded with an intro and won't cover the day's news but play a rebroadcast of Covid-19 related news inserts of the past few weeks.
eNuus ran an on-screen bumper notifying viewers that "eNuus tonight is broadcasting a pre-recorded news overview due to a Covid-19 case in our newsroom".
The eNuus Covid-19 shutdown comes days after eNCA (DStv 403) had to shut down its ground floor studio and several staffers and reporters were forced to go into self-isolation for 14 days after eNCA anchor Shahan Ramkissoon tested positive for Covid-19 on Monday this week.
The SABC's SABC News (DStv 404) and Newzroom Afrika (DStv 405), along with eNCA and eNuus have all been affected by shutdowns and even news bureau closures across South Africa due to Covid-19 cases over the past two months.
eNCA in a statement said that it can "confirm that a member of the staff tested positive for Covid-19 and it has a direct impact on the daily eNuus bulletin broadcast on Saturday at 19:00 on kykNET and kykNET & Kie.
"As a precautionary measure, all editorial staff responsible for the eNuus bulletin have bee asked to stay home while the company deep-cleans the newsroom. None of the eNuus team had direct contact with the infected employee."
"The company is undertaking the necessary track and tracing process to identify potentially exposed staff members who will be required to go for testing. eNCA will continue to monitor the health of affected employees."
