Four more cases of coronavirus in SA

The number of those infected by the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) in South Africa has risen to seven, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced on Monday.

Speaking at an inter-ministerial committee media briefing in Pretoria, the minister said the four latest cases are from the KwaZulu-Natal and were part of the group of 10 that had travelled to Italy.

“The number of people who tested positive at this stage is seven,” the health minister said.

Mkhize said there were two other people who are being tested and they were awaiting their results.

He added that more than 300 people had been tested for Covid-19 throughout the country, but could not confirm the number of people tested who were in contact with those who tested positive.

By Monday afternoon, the respiratory virus had infected more than 100 000 and claimed more than 3 500 lives across the world.

Most of the deaths were in China, but the virus has spread rapidly in Europe, Asia, Australia and North America in the past fortnight.

Earlier on Monday the department of health in North West reported that a suspected coronavirus patient had been admitted to the Klerksdorp/Tshepong Hospital.

They said the 26-year-old female was from Vryburg.

Mkhize said the announcement was made to prevent fake news.

He said the woman had not traveled outside the country, but had presented symptoms of the virus.

“The woman was tested and the results were a bit ambivalent, meaning it was in-between and not negative or positive,” he said.

He added that the tests were repeated after a number of hours and “the individual is not positive”.

With regards to the Grayston Preparatory School in Sandton that had closed on Monday due to concerns that one teacher might have been in contact with a person who tested positive, Mkhize said: “We are interacting with the department of education and we have not issued a call for any school to be closed.”

The minister said their current challenge was identifying travelers who were not necessarily from the flagged areas.

“People then come from the countries that were not being watched, via other airlines. But as far as we are concerned, we continue to screen and make sure that those who have symptoms ... we give that attention at that level,” he said.

“As far as our borders are concerned, we have not restricted people from travelling. We will try and detect symptoms and people who have symptoms are those who we will focus on ... whether they come through land or sea,” Mkhize said.

Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said 94 additional people had been hired to continue tests at ports of entry.

“The 94 that who were hired are from the department of health, some of which are nurses,” he said.

Mkhize said he was aware of panic-buying and that some shops had run out of hand sanitiser.

He urged citizens to keep healthy hygiene habits.

“Hand sanitisers are not a problem. What is critical is the basic soap and water ... that is more standard, much safer and more available, and that is what we need to focus on,” he said.

He added that the situation did not warrant people to start stocking up on food in case they are quarantined.

Meanwhile, efforts to repatriate the more than 100 South Africans in China are reportedly still underway.

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