Four More New Coronavirus Cases In South Africa
9 March 2020
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Minister Zweli Mkhize

Minister Zweli Mkhize has briefed the media about the status of coronavirus cases in South Africa.

The number of South Africans who have tested positive for the coronavirus in South Africa has now increased to seven with four additional cases confirmed.

More than 3 800 people have died globally since the outbreak was first reported in China in December. There have been more than 110 thousand infections worldwide.

Speaking at a media briefing in Pretoria, on Monday, Mkhize says the new four cases were among the group of people who were travelling from Italy.

“They have been put on quarantine; they had not been admitted to the hospital at the point when we received the results. The lady had had symptoms when she arrived but the gentleman did not have symptoms but the test had come out positive. So we are going to have our team to round up all the contacts and also follow-up to see who else needs to be approached. They were all travelling together. Another person is a 45-year-old man again in the area of Pietermaritzburg, among those contacts we took the tests at that time and after the tests came out positive, that one had symptoms and was quarantined. The next one is another male in the area of Pietermaritzburg, a 38-year-old who has also been found to be positive.”

Mkhize says there was also a concerning case in Vryburg, North West, however, the person later tested negative.

“Initially she was admitted with symptoms, in the context when the first test was done, it created an impression that it was a very unclear weak positive, but in fact, we have now gotten confirmation that this was is negative. It was a weak positive and I don’t want to get into that, but sometimes week positive could mean that there could have been a cross-reaction with some other virus.”

In the video below Minister Zweli Mkhize addressed the media in Pretoria: