Third case of coronavirus confirmed in South Africa – Watch

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Third case of coronavirus confirmed in South Africa – Watch

11:52 CAT | 08 Mar 2020

South Africa's Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize addresses a media briefing on the coronavirus at the South African Parliament on March 5, 2020 in Cape Town, as the first case of the COVID-19 illness had been detected in the country. The country has now three confirmed cases. [Photo: AFP/Rodger Bosch]

She is the wife of the first man to be diagnosed with the coronavirus in South Africa, and is part of the group of 10 that had travelled to Italy.

South Africa’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has confirmed a third case of coronavirus in South Africa on Sunday.

The third patient is the wife of the KwaZulu-Natal man who was the first patient to test positive on Thursday.

“Fellow South Africans, an announcement was made yesterday confirming the second case of COVID-19 in South Africa. In that statement, we indicated that the second patient is a direct contact of the first. We further indicated that they were a group of 10 people who had travelled to Italy,” Zweli Mkhize announced in a statement on Sunday.

“We confirm that we traced all 10 of these individuals. Nine of them had returned to South Africa. The tenth did not and is therefore not in our country. This morning we have received results of the direct contact of the first patient, his wife.

“She had also travelled with him to Italy as part of the group of ten. I now wish to advise the public that she has tested positive for COVID-19 and is therefore the third confirmed case in South Africa.

“We expect the results of the other 6 group members who had travelled to Italy within the next 48 hours.

“It is important to advise the public that the couple’s children were tested and their results have come out negative.

“However, as part of taking extra precautions, these children will remain in self quarantine until their parents have tested negative. At that point, they will also be tested to ensure that they remain negative. Until then they will
be regarded as potentially infected. This means they will continue not attend school.

“This is in an effort to curb the risk of spread to other children and teachers. This morning, I had an opportunity to speak to the first confirmed patient. He was upbeat and jovial. I also spoke to the doctor who is treating him. She confirmed that this patient is responding well and is now asymptomatic. At the right time, as determined by the treating doctors, the patient will be retested to check his recovery progress.

“Later today we will issue a statement and conduct live interviews to explain to the public the clinical observations and guidelines that are recommended to be followed in instances of asymptomatic patients. These will be based on the WHO guidelines and treatment methodology and disease management approaches that countries like China (who have presented a very high recovery rate) have used in dealing with asymptomatic patients.”

On Saturday Mkihize announced that the second patient to test positive was a 39-year-old lady from Gauteng who is a direct contact to the first case from KwaZulu-Natal. She was also part of the group of 10 that had travelled to Italy.

“The second patient who has now tested positive for COV-19 will now be immediately admitted to a public health facility in Gauteng that government has identified as one of the hospitals that are ready to receive COVID-19 positive patients.”

The first coronavirus case in the country was confirmed on Thursday.

Mkhize said the patient was a 38-year-old male who travelled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 people and they arrived back in the country on Sunday.

“The patient consulted a private general practitioner on March 3, with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough. The practice nurse took swabs and delivered it to the lab. The patient has been self-isolating since March 3. The couple also has two children.

“The Emergency Operating Centre (EOC) has identified the contacts by interviewing the patient and doctor. The tracer team has been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal with epidemiologists and clinicians from NICD. The doctor has been self-isolated as well.”