- Staff can return to their workplaces if Covid-19 protocols are followed crèches or partial care facilities.
- The facility would also have to be familiar with the final operating procedures and guidelines which are yet to be published.
- A social development department representative would visit the facility to determine if health and safety standards were being adhered to.
Little ones will not be allowed back at crèche or partial care facilities until a date and conditions under which they can open has been gazetted, TimesLIVE reported on Monday.
Quoting a circular issued by the social development department, dated 21 June, it was reported staff could return to their workplaces if Covid-19 protocols were followed.
According to the publication, facilities wanting to reopen have to submit a pre-opening self-assessment form, which includes information such as its registration status, the age groups of the children, whether teaching materials and toys have been disinfected and whether the centre had an isolation space.
A department representative would visit the facility to determine if health and safety standards were being adhered to.
Before reopening, the facility would also have to be familiar with the final operating procedures and guidelines which are yet to be published.
READ | Mandy Wiener: The forgotten children of lockdown
Pupils in grades 7 and 12 returned to classrooms two weeks ago after schools were closed on 18 March due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
On Monday, News24 reported that in the Eastern Cape alone, the provincial education department was forced to close 196 schools since reopening, with 132 of those still shut.
The office of the premier confirmed that of the 196 schools, 40 have reopened after they were decontaminated.
The premier's spokesperson, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha, however, could not explain what the situation was at the remaining 24 schools.
The province accounts for 16.6% of infections, or 16 895, of the 101 590 Covid-19 cases nationwide.
It has the third highest number of confirmed cases after the Western Cape and Gauteng.
- Compiled by Tammy Petersen