The South African National Defence Force has been tasked with returning the 184 South Africans from Wuhan city, in China, which is considered the epicentre of the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Originally, 150 people indicated they wanted to return home, but this number has increased to 184.
This is reflected in a letter from President Cyril Ramaphosa to National Assembly Speaker Thandi Modise.
He says this will also be communicated to the National Council of Provinces.
In his letter, the President informed the National Assembly that it will cost R25 million to assist the Departments of Health and International Relations and Co-operation to return the South African citizens back to their country.
The letter dated 28 February came just five days before the first coronavirus case was confirmed in KwaZulu-Natal.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told the Assembly that the patient has been quarantined, while the doctor who examined the patient has also gone into self-isolation.
He says the patient was one of a group of ten people who recently travelled to Italy.
Mkhize says the remainder of the group is also being traced to check if they could have been exposed to the virus.
In the video below Health Minister Zweli Mkhize briefs the media about SA’s first case of coronavirus:
No events cancellation at Durban ICC
Meanwhile, the Durban International Convention Centre (ICC) says it has not cancelled any international conferences because of the outbreak of the coronavirus. A conference expected to be hosted in the Cape Town ICC has been cancelled.
Durban ICC’’s Scott Langley says at the moment all the international events that were scheduled are planned to go ahead.
He says they are monitoring the spread of the virus carefully: “No conferences have been cancelled with us at the Durban ICC. Everything is still on track and we’re monitoring the situation closely. It’s obviously the health of our clients is of paramount importance to us but we are happy to confirm that all of our events are still firmly on track and nothing has been cancelled. Plans are on track, it is business as usual. We are open for business; we continue to do so for the foreseeable future as well.”
SA praised for how its handling first coronavirus case
The Deputy Director of Africa Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, Dr Ahmed Ogwell, says it is encouraging that the South African government dealt with the detection of the country’s first case of coronavirus in an efficient manner.
Nigeria, Algeria and Senegal are the only other countries in Sub-Saharan Africa to register cases of the virus.
Ogwell says it is not surprising that COVID-19 has reached SA: “Looking at the amount of travel that Africa has, we knew at some point it would come onto the continent, the enhanced surveillance systems are working well. We are quite confident that if a case were to appear as it appeared in other countries, it would be picked quickly, isolated quickly and managed appropriately and we are confident that this continues to happen in countries in Africa including South Africa.”
The graphic below shows designated hospitals for managing coronavirus:
