The Mayor of the metro, Olly Mlamleli, will lead the oversight visit to the Twilight Funeral Home located in the Ashbury suburb and the Bainsvlei cemetery today. 

The Mangaung Metropolitan Municipality, which includes Bloemfontein, Thaba’Nchu, Botshabelo, Dewetsdorp and Wepener, has been classified as the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak in the Free State. At this stage the province has 44 active cases, according to the NICD. The most recent figures made available by the Free State Provincial Government, however, do not provide a breakdown of how many active cases there are in the different regions in the province. So while Bloemfontein has 147 of the 174 total cases reported, the exact number of active cases are yet to be confirmed by the provincial health department.

The visit comes a day after the provincial leadership, led by Premier Sisi Ntombela, held a media briefing assuring the public that most of the districts in the province are ready and well-equipped to move down to lockdown level 3 by the end of May.

The Free State Provincial Government's Director-General, Kopung Ralikontsane, added after the briefing that Mangaung might remain at level 4 at first. The final announcements will be done by president Cyril Ramaphosa at a later stage. Ntombela says the provincial Health Department has to date screened at least 1 352 787 people, which constitutes to 40% of the entire Free State population. 

She also added that a total of ten state-owned and 15 privately owned facilities are ready for use as quarantine facilities in the province. She says these facilities have in total 1700 beds available. Included amongst these facilities, are the Phillip Sanders Resort and Transnet Lodge in the Mangaung District, the Willem Pretorius Resort in the Lejweleputswa District, as well as the Seekoevlei and Sterkfontein Resorts in the Thabo Mofutsanyane District.

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