As the global coronavirus death toll continues to rise, Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi has insisted that South Africa will be able to tackle an outbreak.
He raised concerns over reports alleging that the country is not ready to deal with the virus.
COVID 19 has killed close to 3 000 people and infected over 87 000 globally. Wuhan, in China, remains the epicentre of the virus.
Government is expected to evacuate 151 citizens from the city, where the coronavirus outbreak originated, within seven to 10 days.
They will then be held in quarantine in South Africa as a precautionary measure.
Motsoaledi has told a media conference in Johannesburg that the country has a state-of-the-art laboratory ready to assist with tests for suspected cases of the coronavirus.
“South Africa is one of the only two countries in the whole continent that has got what we call a BSL fall laboratory and the NICD the only other one in the whole continent is in Egypt, and those are the only laboratories can deal with very serious pathogens like H1N1, Ebola, Corona and all that.”
On the video below, SABC News Foreign Editor Sophie Mokoena discusses government’s plan to repatriate 151 South Africans from China:
