SA’s first Coronavirus virus case confirmed in KZN
The tracer team has been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal with epidemiologists and clinicians from NICD
THE national minister of health in South Africa, just hours ago, confirmed that a 38-year-old man who had travelled from Italy has tested positive for the deadly virus.
“This morning, Thursday, 5 March, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed that a suspected case of COVID-19 has tested positive. The patient is a 38-year-old male who travelled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 people and they arrived back in South Africa on March 1, 2020,” Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.
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He said 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.
Mkhize added: “The patient has been self-isolating since March 3. The couple also has two children. 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-isolated as well,” he said.
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