• Grey College Secondary in Bloemfontein has recorded a positive Covid-19 case.
• The Grade 12 pupil who tested positive showed no symptoms after arriving on Sunday when the hostel opened. 
• The education and health departments have visited the school to assess the situation.

Nineteen pupils residing at a Grey College Secondary hostel in Bloemfontein in the Free State will be quarantined for 14 days at a lodge not far from the school after a Grade 12 pupil tested positive for Covid-19. 

News24 earlier reported that one of the hostels at the college had been shut down after the pupil's results came back on Tuesday.

In a statement released earlier on Wednesday, the school said the pupil was from Pietermaritzburg in KwaZulu-Natal and lived at the hostel. 

The pupil woke up with a headache and cough on Tuesday morning, the school said.  

After being screened on various occasions, he was kept in isolation until a family member picked him up. The pupil then underwent a test.

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The boy's temperature had been checked on various occasions since the school's hostels opened for the new term on Sunday evening, and he was monitored daily, but never had a fever, school marketing manager Marzaan Venter said in the statement.

Closed

"The principal, Mr Deon Scheepers, immediately informed the Department of Education of the situation [and it] then gave instruction that the hostel must be closed and the boys and staff must be placed under quarantine. The Department of Education will make further recommendations to the school," Venter said.

Speaking to News24 on Wednesday afternoon, Venter said provincial education and health department officials were at the school, interacting with the boys. 

In an updated statement in the afternoon following the visit by the departments, the school said the footsteps and routes the pupil used since arriving had also been traced. 

"The Department of Health decided that the 19 other hostel boys, as well as some of the hostel staff, will be accommodated for a period of 14 days at Hyde Place Lodge, a certified and selected quarantine facility close to school," the statement read. 

The departments also identified all the areas that should be decontaminated and closed for two days, it said.

The areas include the hostel, dining hall, certain classrooms and two other buildings on the campus.

It added that there were already alternative measures in place to ensure that the boys residing in two other hostels would receive their meals in a safe environment. 

The school will remain open for teaching and learning, and protocols to ensure safety were in place, Venter said in the statement.   

Various schools across the country had to shut their doors since reopening on Monday after teachers and pupils tested positive.

*This article has been updated after a subsequent statement was received from the school, following the visit by the Departments of Education and Health.