The Herald (South Africa)

‘The River’ halts production

- Chrizelda Kekana

After returning to the set a few weeks ago, the cast and crew of The River have been forced to stop production after a crew member tested positive for Covid-19.

Fans of the popular telenovela flooded the producers’ timeline with well wishes and encouragem­ent after they released a statement explaining they had to stop production for everyone’s safety.

“After we received the news of the colleague testing positive, we immediatel­y asked the cast and crew who came into contact with the member to go into self-isolation.

“They will soon avail themselves to health authoritie­s for testing, in line with government directives,” the statement read.

On Twitter, the executive producer Phathu Makwarela thanked fans and industry mates for the messages of support for his team.

The production had only gone back to work at the beginning of May, after level 5 of the national lockdown implemente­d to help curb the spread of Covid-19 forced all production­s to shut down.

Phathu said in the statement that since they had gone back to work, “all necessary lockdown health guides were implemente­d on set”.

There is no word yet on when the cast and crew of The River will be able to return to work.

However, the show’s set has been closed for decontamin­ation. — TimesLIVE

 ?? TWITTER Picture: ?? SAFETY FIRST: Producers of ‘The River’ have stopped work on the telenovela for now as a crew member contracted Covid-19
TWITTER Picture: SAFETY FIRST: Producers of ‘The River’ have stopped work on the telenovela for now as a crew member contracted Covid-19

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