By A Correspondent

South Africa has recorded its first case of Covid-19 coronavirus on Thursday morning.

In a statement the country’s Ministry of Health Zweli Mkhize said the case was detected by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

He said the patient is a 38-year-old male who had travelled to Italy with his wife.

“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 where it was tested positive,” said Mkhize.

He said the patient has been in self-isolating since March 3.

Maja added, “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-isolating as well.”

He said following the incident, a press briefing will be held by the Minister of Health after a Parliamentary debate in the evening to shed more light on the issue.