Colleagues who worked closely with the affected workers are already self-isolating as per the guidelines under the circumstances.

Thobile Lamati, Director-General of the Department said that, the safety of staff remain paramount at all times. "Our officials are an important cog of the working of the South African economy and as such, we will also ensure that they are as safe as possible," he said.

CF Commissioner Vuyo Mafata said, "The three days will allow for deep cleaning and fogging but in the meantime, work will continue as we will be working from our homes to ensure that service delivery is affected as little as possible."

The instance of a positive case comes as the entity of the Department of Employment and Labour entity is dealing with the number of claims that have been lodged regarding COVID-19 contracted on duty.

A total of 367 claims have been lodged with the Fund. The largest number of claims – 118 – comes from the Western Cape. So far, 67 claims have been accepted for liability, 9 have been repudiated and 42 are pending adjudication.

KwaZulu-Natal has registered 77 claims. The Fund has accepted liability of 67 of those claims, 3 have been repudiated while 7 are awaiting adjudication.

Gauteng received 54 claims and 31 of those have been accepted, 7 repudiated and 16 are awaiting arbitration while the Eastern Cape has registered 45 cases of which 26 have been accepted, one has been repudiated and 18 awaits adjudication. Two claims have been registered from Limpopo with one accepted and the other repudiated; meanwhile Mpumalanga had only one case which has been accepted.

The majority of those who have been affected are female accounting for 84% of the claims received. The Fund has accepted liability for 65% of the received claims and only 7% have been repudiated while 27% await adjudication.

"Some of the easiest things all workers can do is to ensure that they practice correct hygiene and where possible, they have the right equipment and personal protection to lessen the infection rate. We also urge employees to ensure that in cases where they feel unsafe, they should contact the Inspectorate and Enforcement Service so that they can hold employers to the correct standard of protection," said Mafata.