Mpumalanga Premier Refilwe Mtsweni-Tsipane has launched the province’s first Covid-19 command centre and a tracking app, in Mbombela, on Thursday.

According to Mtsweni-Tsipane, the command centre and the tracking app will help in tracking patients who have tested positive for the virus and to make sure that such cases are dealt with faster.

“Information will be collected during mass community screenings where community health care workers will form teams to conduct the screening surveys. This data will then be uploaded on the app through mobile devices,” she explained.

The app will go live on Thursday afternoon and requires the filling in of a questionnaire.

Mtsweni-Tsipane assured that the door-to-door screening will go ahead as planned but that government has set out other strategies.

“Most of our people use smartphones and will be able to download the app and from time to time give us an indication of what is happening, over and above the door-to-door [campaign] that we are doing,” she explained.