THE Covid-19 pandemic has hit Bulawayo City Council (BCC) with majority of its workers being forced to quarantine after testing positive, a development that is compromising service delivery.
This was revealed by the city Town Clerk Christopher Dube in a statement on Saturday.
Dube revealed that as for sewer task teams, five out of eight teams are in quarantine and isolation after contracting the lethal virus.
“The Covid-19 has in some instances resulted in the quarantine of whole teams wherein a member has tested positive and currently we have five out of eight teams in quarantine and isolation,” he said.
The town clerk said this has resulted in a growing backlog of services, including sewer chokes that need to be attended to.
“The city council sewer task teams have been affected by the rising number of Covid-19 cases. As a result this has impacted negatively on service delivery, resulting in a growing backlog of sewer chokes that need to be attended to,” he said.
Dube said while the council is putting measures to mitigate the spread of Covid-19, there is still an increase in the number of workers who contract the virus, especially outside work premises.
“This has greatly reduced staffing levels available to attend to outstanding devices throughout the city, hence negatively impacting on the reaction time to sewer reports and other services,” he said. — TAMARY CHIKIWA