​Rofhiwa Marubini 
Gauteng MEC for Health, Nomathemba Mokgethi has announced that the Gauteng Provincial Government will close and decommission the Nasrec field hospital at the end of February 2021. 
She announced this on Thursday, 25 February, stating that there were no scientific, statistical, or clinical reasons to keep the facility open.
"We have always been guided by science through the modelling team and by projections from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in our comprehensive health response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The closure of the Nasrec field hospital will not have a major impact in the treatment of COVID-19 patients. 
The  Department of Health now has the capacity to operationalise 4265 functional beds through its hospital infrastructure should the need arise," said  Mokgethi.
The Nasrec field hospital was initially secured in April 2020 as part of the provincial government's health's response to COVID-19. The  500-bed isolation and quarantine site was set up to accommodate members of the public who tested positive for COVID-19 but could not self-isolate or quarantine at home. 
The facility's capacity was later increased by an additional  1000 beds in anticipation of the projected infection peak  in August 2020. 
Since opening, a total of 1658 patients were admitted at the facility 1254 for isolation,  117   for quarantine and 287 Priority 3 patients.
 MEC Mokgethi expressed gratitude to all staff members who worked at the facility and said setting-up such a facility with tight deadlines provided many lessons for government on managing a  pandemic.