Suspected coronavirus patients stopped at SA border

China has commended South Africa for its quick action in preventing the coronavirus from spreading into the country, after South African authorities moved quickly to control a group of Chinese tourists from Madagascar en-route to South Africa.

The tourists were quarantined and tested, before they were sent back home, the portfolio committee on health and tourism heard during their joint session on Tuesday. It was feared that had the tourists’ movement not been detected, their arrival in South African could have caused panic in the country.

Tourism portfolio committee chairperson Supra Mahumapelo confirmed that there had a group en-route to SA from Madagascar, who were turned back due to some members of the group having a fever.

“At the ports of entry at OR Tambo and Cape Town, medical personnel from the communicable disease unit were inspecting and quarantining people who were suspected of carrying the virus. This was due to SA having a comprehensive strategy to deal with the virus, by ensuring that 11 hospitals were identified to deal with such cases across the country,” Mahumapelo said.

He added: “The committee wants to commend the PRC on its handling of the virus which was detected in early December last year. On 8 January 2020, the virus was named as the novel coronavirus.”

Mahumapelo gave no details as to how many people were involved and which part of China they came from, except to say this was “due to the collegial relationship between SA and the People’s Republic of China’s tourism authorities”.

The committee later told The Citizen that all the tourists were sent back home to China.

Chinese Consul-General in South Africa, Lin Jing, commended South Africa’s effort to keep the virus out of the country.  This after Lin briefed a joint session of the health and tourism portfolio committees in parliament earlier on Tuesday, about China’s experiences with the coronavirus and its implications to the tourism sector. The committee was also briefed by the National Registrar of Tourist Guides on the compliance with relevant legislation and other programmes.

The committee heard that to date, there have been 2,666 deaths as a result of novel coronavirus (NCV) in China with a total of 77,780 confirmed cases of virus contraction, 27,377 people who were cured and discharged from hospitals, and a further 2,824 suspected cases which are yet to be confirmed.

Since the outbreak in early December last year, there have been nine newly confirmed cases outside Wuhan and Hubei, the epicentres of the NCV outbreak.

The consul-general said to date, a number of cities have downgraded their responses to emergencies, with eight provinces in China having downgraded from first to second level response, which is significant. It is envisaged that within the next few days more provinces, autonomous regions and cities will downgrade. The NCV has become a worldwide concern, after spreading to 25 countries.

One of the measures the PRC took to deal with the outbreak decisively was the removal of the leadership in Wuhan and Hubei.

The PRC also restricted the movement of people within the infected areas.

Mahumapelo acknowledged that the Chinese market had become one of the significant markets for South Africa. The country received approximately 100,000 Chinese tourists per annum, who usually travel as groups and spend significant time in the country, contributing to South Africa’s tourism income and GDP (gross domestic product).

“With the increased number of tourists from China, the committee has previously urged South African Tourism to develop a dedicated strategy to harness the tourists from China. The Department of Tourism is training local tourist guides in Mandarin to effectively cater for the Chinese tourists. South Africa has not stopped marketing in China as China remains an important tourism market,” Mahumapelo said.

ericn@citizen.co.za

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