The Gauteng Department of Health has partnered with Rebosis Property Fund and Faith Care Medicals to set up Covid-19 testing stations at malls owned by the company in the Pretoria area.

On Tuesday, the first mall-based testing station in Gauteng was officially opened by Health MEC Bandile Masuku, the CEO of Rebosis Sisa Ngebulana and the founder of Faith Care Medicals Faith Mabuza at Forest Hill City shopping centre in Centurion.

The mall services the communities of Olivenhoutbosch and Diepsloot, among other various residential areas.

"This partnership will benefit various communities in Pretoria and surrounding areas, especially those that have been identified as Covid-19 hotspots and are also densely populated, thus posing a health risk," the department said in a statement.

According to the department, the testing stations will be rolled out in phases at the demarcated areas outside malls owned by Rebosis, where phase two of the project will see the opening of a testing station at Bloedstreet Mall in the Pretoria CBD.

"This mall has taxi ranks that service various routes ferrying people from townships such as Mamelodi, Soshanguve, Mabone, Hebron, Hammanskraal, etc.

"The third station will be located at Sunnypark Shopping Centre, which is situated in Sunnyside, Pretoria. This mall caters for government workers and students, who either live in the area or frequent there for work and schooling purposes."

The newly set-up testing stations are aimed at curbing the spread of the virus by giving shoppers and members of the public access to screening and testing facilities, which will be free of charge.

"We are grateful for this strategic partnership with Rebosis Property Fund and Faith Care Medicals, which will intensify the fight against the spread of the coronavirus," Masuku said in the statement.

"We wish to extend our appreciation to our partners for working with us to save lives."

The MEC also called on other mall owners and businesses to come on board to ensure the project was implemented throughout the province, so that as many people as possible are able to access testing stations and are given the necessary care if found to be positive.

The department added that a key strategy to reducing the spread of the coronavirus is to screen and test as many people as possible through a targeted strategy by focusing on hotspots.

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