Covid-19 patient with renal disease not critical, corrects Gauteng health dept

The Gauteng department of health on Thursday backtracked on their initial statement which said a Covid-19 patient in the province with renal disease was in a critical state.

Spokesperson Kwara Kekana told News24 said: “He travelled to Italy and Austria (the travel dates were not known at the time of the report). It is now known that he is not critical as stated earlier, but he is doing well.”

ALSO READ: Gauteng Covid-19 patient in critical condition has ‘comorbidity’ with renal disease

On Wednesday, the department stated the 57-year-old patient, who is one of the 24 people who have tested positive for the coronavirus in the country, had renal disease and was in a critical condition.

This was what worried the department, according to health MEC Bandile Masuku.

“Those are two factors which usually give us a severe pattern of the disease that we have seen,” Masuku had previously said.

The MEC was on SABC on Thursday morning to clarify that the department was worried about the patient because he was part of a high-risk group “in terms of age and in terms of the co-morbid disease he has, which is his renal disease”.

“He is still doing well, he is not in a bad situation – I just wanted to correct that fact,” Masuku explained.

Four more cases of Covid-19 were confirmed by the national health department on Thursday evening, bringing the total to 17. By Friday afternoon, the department confirmed the number was now at 24.

News24 reached out to the Gauteng health department for additional updates on the patient – it will be added once received.

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