SA patient suspected of having coronavirus cleared and to be discharged

Health authorities in Limpopo are monitoring the first person in South Africa suspected of possibly having contracted the deadly new coronavirus from China, the SABC reports.

A man from Limpopo was isolated for treatment on Tuesday evening after presenting for treatment with symptoms that could be indicative of the illness that has now killed nearly 500 in China.

Both Namibia and Botswana have also put citizens in quarantine and are monitoring them, since the virus incubates for up to two weeks before symptoms truly start to show.

The patient is a baggage handler at a cross-border checkpoint between Botswana and South Africa and was admitted to Ellisras Hospital in Lephalale, a coal-mining town. He went to the doctor complaining of a high fever.

The health department has deployed nurses and other health officers at the Groblersbridge border post between South Africa and Botswana to monitor travellers, with elevated temperatures the greatest concern.

The patient was cleared and could be discharged from hospital as early as Wednesday.

Limpopo health department spokesperson Neil Shikwambana said: “He was isolated and tested and eventually cleared of having the coronavirus.”

(Additional reporting by News24 Wire)

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