The South African Government takes note of the announcement by the World Health Organisation (WHO) Director-General that it has declared COVID-19 a pandemic. A pandemic is classified as a worldwide spread of a new disease.
As of today, 12 March 2020, South Africa has 17 confirmed cases of COVID-19 as there were an additional 4 confirmed cases yesterday.
The new cases are from the following provinces:
Mpumalanga:
- A 27-year-old female from Mpumalanga who had travelled from the United States and returned to South Africa on 7 March
Gauteng:
- A 43-year-old man from Johannesburg who had travelled to New York via Dubai and returned to South Africa on 8 March
Free State:
- A 32-year-old man who came into contact with a Chinese businessman. This is the first case of a local transmission as all others have been by patients who had travelled abroad.
KwaZulu-Natal:
- A 38-year-old man who lives in Turkey and was visiting his family in South Africa has tested positive. He had travelled to the UK and returned to South Africa on 7 March.
At this stage, all patients are in self-quarantine and have mild to moderate symptoms, they are also on symptomatic treatment.
Watch: Ahmed Bham unpacks exactly how the process of bringing back citizens from Wuhan will be managed
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