Minister in the Presidency Jackson Mthembu, says the number of coronavirus infections now stands at 1170 and the death toll has been reduced to one person.
Earlier reports, said two women from the Western Cape had died. Mthembu says clarification will be provided soon on the death toll. The death of the other person is suspected to be as a results of other health complications and not coronavirus as it was initially reported.
It is with deep sadness that we announce two loss of lives to #coronavirus . We will update with more details pic.twitter.com/WXUORwjjHL
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) March 27, 2020
He was speaking at an Inter-ministerial briefing in Pretoria.
“Whilst indeed there has been a reported number of two deaths, arising out of COVID-19,what has now been confirmed by the authorities is one death. The other death is suspected. The minister will explain all that at an appropriate time.”
In the video below, Minister Jackson Mthembu briefs the media under Day 1 of the lockdown:
Transport Minister Fikile Mbalula has slammed those who seek to undermine the national lockdown which is part of wide-ranging interventions to slow down the spread of the coronavirus. He has been speaking in Pretoria at an inter-ministerial briefing on the back of Day 1 of the national lock-down.
Mbalula says there have been some challenges with public transport, particularly long queues and a lack of transport to ferry essential workers.
“The first challenge in terms of public transport of transporting workers with essential need like those working in the banks or supermarkets, in the hospitals … the operations started well today; we had challenges of long queues where the taxi industry did not come to the party to transport people and we want to emphasize once more that the regulations as stand in relation to 5am to 9am in the morning, but afternoon 4pm to 8pm. That still stands. Public transport is shutdown. There’s only a limited (transport) for essential workers.”
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