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Authorities are calling for the army to be deployed to help keep criminals and those who violate lockdown regulations at bay.
FILE: SAPS members and SANDF soldiers deploy to the Mitchells Plain area of Cape Town to enforce the Disaster Management Act and ensure compliance with lockdown regulations on April 20, 2020. Image: @ SAPoliceService / Twitter
CAPE TOWN – The COVID-19 pandemic is affecting Garden Route law enforcement, prompting the region’s Disaster Management Center to order more boots on the ground.
More than 150 police officers in the district are in isolation or quarantine.
The authorities are calling for the army to be deployed to help keep criminals and those who break the lockdown rules at bay.
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Soldiers were stationed on the Garden Route in June, an initiative that authorities say helped reduce COVID-19 infections.
Disaster management chief Gerhard Otto said that too many men and women dressed in blue had been exposed to the virus.
“If you look only at our SAPS members, right now 45 of the SAPS members in the Eden cluster are in isolation and 93 are in quarantine and in Da Gamaskop, 4 SAPS members are in isolation and another 10 are in quarantine. “
Otto said this was hampering the required work of law enforcement agencies as they were unable to control crime and compliance.
“We have asked SANDF to help us not only with awareness campaigns, but also with enforcement and law enforcement, and now we know we have to do even more due to the new curfew and additional regulations.” .
Authorities expect a positive result when they receive comments on Wednesday.
The district has experienced a sharp increase in the infection rate and has been declared a hotspot and is therefore subject to tougher regulations than the rest of the country.
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