THE South Africa health ministry has announced its first positive Coronavirus case.
In a statement, the country’s Ministry of Health spokesperson, Popo Maja, said the case was detected by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of a 38old male patient who had travelled to Italy with his wife.
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 where it was tested positive,” said Maja.
He said the patient has been self-isolating since March 3.
Maja added, “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-isolating as well.”
He said following the incident, a press briefing will be held by the Minister of Health after Parliamentary debate in the evening to shed more light on the issue.
