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‘Crew members on quarantined cruise ship to remain on board’

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The Department of Health says the remaining 10 crew members on the quarantined cruise ship in Yokohama, Japan, will remain on board until all passengers have disembarked, then only will they go into quarantine and observation before coming home.

Two South Africans tested positive for the coronavirus, also known as COVID-19, after working on the Diamond Princess. There have been 700 cases and four deaths on the quarantined cruise ship.

Acting Health Department Director Anban Pillay says this was an agreement reached between the crew members and their employer. He adds however that the risk of these 10 becoming infected is high.

“These members were not infected until fairly recently, a few days ago actually, they have the infection but they don’t have any symptoms of the infection. My understanding is that the South Africans working on that ship have agreed with their employer that they will remain on the ship and make sure that all the passengers are safely off and then in a phase manner they will then also leave the ship as well.”

Health Department’s Anban Pillay confirming the status of South Africans on board quarantined cruise ship 


South Korea has now recorded more than 2 000 cases of the coronavirus.

South Africans in Wuhan to be repatriated

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday announced that a group of about 132 South African citizens in China will be brought back home but will have to spend some time in quarantine.

The mother of one of the South Africans living in Wuhan has pleaded with the government to bring her son back as soon as possible.

The South African National Defence Force will be leading the mission to bring them home on Sunday.

Nomfundo Motshabi’s son, Kamohelo Taole, has been stuck at the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak.

COVID-19  outbreak ‘Very high’

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has upgraded to ‘very high’ the global risk of the COVID-19  outbreak.

The WHO also noted with concern the continued increase in cases and the number of affected countries over recent days.

The latest figures show that China has reported a total of 78 959 cases and 2 791 deaths. Outside of China, there are now 4 351 cases in 49 countries and 67 deaths.

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus says there is a chance of containing the outbreak if the chain of transmission is broken.

“Together we’re powerful, containment starts with you, our greatest enemy right now is not the virus itself its fear, rumours and stigma and our greatest asset are facts, reason and solidarity.”

“Since yesterday, Denmark, Estonia, Lithuania, Netherlands and Nigeria have all reported their first cases. All these cases have links to Italy. Twenty-four cases have been exported from Italy to 14 countries and 97 cases have been exported from Iran to 11 countries. The continued increase in the number of cases and the number of affected countries over the last few days are clearly of concern.” Ghebreyesus explains.

28 people quarantined in Nigeria

Health officials in Nigeria say 28 people have been quarantined after being identified as having been in contact with the country’s first confirmed case.

Below is a Live Tracking of the cases, death toll and other information:

-Additional reporting by Reuters

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