A number of commercial and residential properties have disabled bio-metric systems in an effort to limit the spread of the coronavirus that has claimed the lives of 9,000 people worldwide with about 220,000 battling infection.

Jones Maphalaphathwa, president of The Association of Private Security Owners of SA (Tapsosa) warned the disabling of bio-metric systems leaves homes and businesses vulnerable.

South Africa has extremely high crime statistics with a total of 2.09 million crimes recorded in 2018 and 2.01 million last year.

“You would have realised that in a number of areas, people have disabled bio-metric systems when entering buildings and facilities. That, to us, is a very serious concern because it creates a security threat,” Maphalaphathwa said.

The number of confirmed cases in the country had peaked at 116 by midday on Wednesday.

Although TAPSOSA highlighted the risks associated with disabling bio-metric systems, Maphalaphathwa said they welcomed President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement on what Cabinet would be doing to mitigate the spread of the virus.

“The President declared the corona virus as a national disaster and required us to contribute to the integrated and co-ordinated disaster management mechanism to reduce the spread of the virus,” he said, adding that a united approach was necessary.

Maphalaphathwa added that while the jobs of security officers left them most vulnerable due to their contact with people in various places, private security company owners had to implement mitigation measures to curb the possible spread of the virus.

“We are calling on all private security employers to take an active role by putting in place mitigation measures,” he said.

Security officers are at the points of entry at our borders, ports, airports, shopping malls, hospitals, train stations, public and private properties.