“Mining executives and officials who visit offshore operations are at risk of contracting the virus in other countries and bringing the infection into South African mines.”
The industry is “putting in place risk-mitigating measures to rapidly identify any cases of the virus, to ensure rapid isolation and contact tracing, and could — if necessary — mobilise large-scale medical facilities,” the Minerals Council said on Friday.
Expanding on its preparedness, the industry grouping said: “We recognise that the mining sector has special circumstances that could make it vulnerable to transmission of infectious diseases such as Covid-19. Employees congregate in areas of work, and travel in proximity to each other. As mining often involves physical activity, there could be a high degree of exposure to the virus simply through contact with people, machinery and equipment.
Demand for some commodities could be affected if growth in significantly affected markets is constrained or delayed, it added. “On the other hand, the price of gold would likely be supported in the context of global uncertainty.”Other sectors are also compiling workplace policies to deal with the coronavirus.said it had taken steps to protect the health of employees and the company's clients.
“We urge travellers to share only information that has been confirmed by an official source like the National Institute for Communicable Diseases , World Health Organisation or Asata, as there is a lot of fake news doing the rounds,” says Otto de Vries, Asata CEO. Destinations and travel suppliers are putting in place travel restrictions when these are necessary, said Asata. WHO also confirmed there was no need to put travel restrictions in place, except for the epicentre of the outbreak, China’s Wuhan province.
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