WATCH: Woman hilariously tells sneezing passenger to close mouth during Soweto taxi ride

A recent taxi ride to Soweto turned into a lesson on coronavirus symptoms after a commuter sneezed a few times, leaving an elderly woman in panic.

In a video shared on Sunday by @_Aqua_montez, an unseen commuter can be heard sneezing a few times before the elderly woman sitting behind the driver seat starts complaining and advising the other to cover their mouth.

She says: “Hayi, nay’ icoronavirus. Valani mlomo [cover your mouth], damnit! Sh*t!” as she uses a cloth to cover her mouth. Other commuters laugh at the exchange, while another suggests the sneezing woman be given a tissue.

Watch the video below:

According to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, early symptoms of Covid-19 are chills, body aches, sore throat, headache, diarrhoea, nausea, vomiting, runny nose, fever, coughing, shortness of breath and difficulty breathing.

He said during a meeting in KwaZulu-Natal on Sunday: “It’s very simple: this virus spreads through what we call droplet infection. Droplet infection is this, while I’m busy talking to you I’m throwing out some droplets from the mouth. When I sneeze the same thing happens and when I cough too.

“If someone has tears, it can also come from the tears. So either someone will cough or sneeze next to you and then you can inhale the droplets and get the virus or it can be in your hands and you touch someone else and spread the virus. All you do is use a tissue to cover your mouth and nose when coughing/sneezing. If you don’t have one nearby, you cough onto your elbow or use a cloth/handkerchief.

“The other thing you need to understand: to get this infection you need to be in a really short distance of the infected person. If you are more than 1-1.5 metres my droplets won’t reach you. So if you see someone is coughing, you can just stand at a bit of a distance.”

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This, according to the minister, reduces the infection spread to the next person.

Citizens have also been urged to wash their hands with soap and water after bathroom visits.

The minister further urged people to steer clear of stigmatising people with coronavirus and to avoid stereotypes.

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