The Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize – has confirmed that the number of positive cases of the novel COVID-19 has risen by 23 new cases – and the total number of cases in South Africa now stands at 85.
In a statement by NICD, confirms that the 23 new additional cases of coronavirus tested positive for SARS CoV-2.
“COVID-19 cases in South Africa continue to rise, with private and public laboratories now fully equipped to test for SARS-CoV-2, the causative pathogen for COVID-19.”
“The total cases of COVID-19 in South Africa currently stand at 85, of which a total of 2 911 cases have been tested by public and private laboratories to date” added NICD on a statement..
Gauteng is currently the province with the most cases, followed by Western Cape.
“The 23 newly added cases consist of eight locally transmitted cases, four from the Gauteng Province, three from the KwaZulu-Natal Province and one from the Western Cape Province with no international travel history.”
Here’s the provincial break down of the new cases.
Gauteng Province
- A 45-year-old male who travelled to Belgium, the United Kingdom, France and the United States of America
- A 37-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom
- A 54-year-old female who travelled to the United States of America
- A 52-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom
- A 25-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom
- A 25-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom
- A 52-year-old female who travelled to Italy
- A 59-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom and Dubai
- A 57-year-old male who travelled to the United States of America
- A 60-year-old male who travelled to the United States of America
- A 37-year-old female who travelled to Italy and Dubai
- A 21-year-old female with no international travel history
- A 34-year-old male with no international travel history
- A 26-year-old female with no international travel history
- A 32-year-old female with no international travel history
KwaZulu-Natal Province
- A 48-year-old male who travelled to Dubai
- A 59-year-old female with no international travel history
- A 5-year-old male with no international travel history
- A 3-year-old male with no international travel history
Western Cape Province
- A 3-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom
- A 58-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom and Austria
- A 2-year-old male with no international travel history
- A 62-year-old female who travelled to the United Kingdom and Ethiopia
- A 71-year-old female who travelled to the United Kingdom
In a statement according to SABC News, Mkhize said: “I must inform the public that there was a debate with clinicians, epidemiologists, virologists on when we, as government must release results to the public.”
“These experts raised an issue of an ethical obligation to immediately alert patients as soon as the results become available.” He added.
“This, therefore, means that by the time a confirmation test is conducted in public laboratories, patients would have been notified of their initial results. This clarification is important because as government, we had announced to the public that all positive results will be verified through our public laboratories and the NICD.” continued Mkhize.
Source: SABC