The Department of Health on Thursday announced four more new confirmed cases of the coronavirus in South Africa, bringing the total to 17.
BREAKING NEWS: South Africa’s #coronavirus cases have now risen to 17. #sabcnews pic.twitter.com/c7B6IpTmum
— SABC News Online (@SABCNewsOnline) March 12, 2020
The new four cases are:
KwaZulu-Natal: 1
A 38-year-old male from Durban who lives in Turkey and was visiting his family in South Africa has tested positive. He had travelled to the UK and returned to SA on 7 March 2020.
Mpumalanga: 1
A 27-year-old female who had travelled to US has been diagnosed with the virus. She returned to the country on Saturday 7 March 2020.
Gauteng: 1
In Johannesburg, a 43-year-old male travelled to New York via Dubai and returned to South Africa on Sunday, 8 March 2020.
Free State: 1
In Free State, a 32-year-old male who came into contact with a Chinese businessman has also been diagnosed with COVID-19. This is the first case of local transmission as all others have been by patients who had travelled abroad.
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On Wednesday the number of infections was at 13
On Wednesday, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced that 6 more people have tested positive for the virus.
In the video below, the Department of Health confirms six more cases:
The World Health Organisation (WHO) director-general announced on Wednesday that it has declared COVID-19 a pandemic.
First coronavirus case in SA:
On March 5th, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed that a suspected case of COVID-19 has tested positive.
The patient, a 38-year-old male, travelled to Italy with his wife.
They were part of a group of 10 people and they arrived back in South Africa on March 1, 2020.
The patient consulted a private general practitioner on March 3, with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough.
Globally more than 4 370 people have died and over 121 000 have been infected with COVID-19.
In the video below, the country announces its first case of COVID-19:
