Coronavirus: SABC News reporter Ulrich Hendriks in the Northern Cape has recovered from Covid-19.

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC News reporter Ulrich Hendriks has recovered from the Covid-19 virus.

Ulrich Hendriks was the first staffer at the South African public broadcaster who exhibited symptoms of Covid-19 and tested positive for the virus which has caused the global novel coronavirus pandemic and which is also spreading through the country.

Ulrich Hendriks, based in Kimberley, has tested positive for the Covid-19 after which the SABC shuttered its office in the Northern Cape province with the rest of the SABC staffers who had to work from home.

Ulrich Hendriks tested positive after he visited Upington on 10 and 11 March and came into contact with a German citizen who had the virus.

Ulrich Hendriks who was in self-isolation was informed on Wednesday that he's clear of Covid-19.

Coronavirus: A second SABC staffer tests positive for Covid-19 this time at its Auckland Park headquarters in the SABC News research division.

by Thinus Ferreira

A second SABC staffer has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus as the novel coronavirus spreads in South Africa and globally in the pandemic, this time inside the South African public broadcaster's Auckland Park headquarters where the staffer is working for the SABC News research division.

The positive Covid-19 case is the second at the SABC after the first SABC staffer, Ulrich Hendriks, tested positive on Thursday at the SABC's Kimberley provincial office in the Northern Cape office.

All SABC staffers there have been quarantined while the Kimberley office is being disinfected.

The second SABC staffer works inside the SABC News research division and is currently in sick leave in hospital.

All staffers within the same division as the ill and hospitalised worker are already working from home as part of the SABC's back-up plan.

In an internal SABC memo to staffers that was leaked to the press, the SABC tells personnel that the workers is "currently hospitalised" while other staffers were told as part of "a contingency measure" to work from home.

The staffers has a close relative who works in the SABC News digital news division.

The SABC has set up a disaster recovery site away from its Auckland Park headquarters in Johannesburg, consisting out of Outside Broadcast (OB) vans.

This site will take over in case of emergency to ensure that SABC TV and radio broadcasts continue uninterrupted. Two more studios at Auckland Park have been reserved for use by the department of education from which educational programming will be produced during the national lockdown period.

The SABC has also shut down all SABC Sport TV productions that are being replaced on schedules with licensed international sports content. Midday programming is being replaced with educational content.


ALSO READ: Coronavirus: SABC News journalist tests positive for Covid-19 in Kimberley as public broadcaster shutters Northern Cape office and quarantines staffers.
ALSO READ: Coronavirus: SABC sets up disaster recovery site with Outside Broadcast vans; production of soaps and scripted shows shuttered; news and actuality to continue during 21-day national lockdown.

Coronavirus: SABC News journalist Ulrich Hendriks tests positive for Covid-19 in Kimberley as public broadcaster shutters Northern Cape office and quarantines staffers.

by Thinus Ferreira

The SABC News journalist Ulrich Hendriks based in Kimberley has tested positive for the Covid-19 virus as cases of the novel coronavirus spreads in South Africa, with the South African public broadcaster that has shuttered its office in the Northern Cape province with the rest of staffers now working from home.

Mmoni Seapolelo, SABC spokesperson, confirmed the broadcaster's first positive Covid-19 case and said staffers will be quarantined. "The SABC can confirm that we have one confirmed case of coronavirus at our Northern Cape provincial office," said Mmoni Seapolelo.

"As a precautionary measure, we will close the Kimberley office and all employees based in that office will also be quarantined. The employee concerned is under quarantine and will be monitored".

Phathiswa Magopeni, SABC News editor-in-chief, says the SABC is in contact with Ulrich Hendriks who is recovering at home.

"We know that he came into contact with two German tourists. Given the close proximity of our news staff in the newsroom - 25 colleagues in the Kimberley office – we decided, as a precautionary measure, to close the office and have all staff quarantined and tested. We are developing contingency plans for the operations there."

"As the SABC, since the start of the disaster, we have taken critical precautionary measures to safe-guard all our staff - with masks and other protective gear and items. But clearly given this scenario it calls for journalists to be extra careful," says Phathiswa Magopeni.

The South African National Editors’ Forum (SANEF) says in a statement on Friday that it "stands in solidarity with our colleagues at the SABC after one of their journalists tested positive for the Covid-19 virus in the Kimberley office in the Northern Cape".

"SANEF understands that the public broadcaster took immediate precautionary steps yesterday and shut down its operations in the region. All staff are working from home."


ALSO READ: Coronavirus: SABC sets up disaster recovery site with Outside Broadcast vans; production of soaps and scripted shows shuttered; news and actuality to continue during 21-day national lockdown.