By A Correspondent- South Africa  has confirmed 8 more cases of coronavirus, bringing the total to 24  at the time of going to press.

More positive tests were confirmed and the ministry will make a further announcement as soon as the statistics are out.

Just yesterday, the country had 16 confirmed cases by the Minister of Public Health.

The figure has seen an almost meteoric rise overnight.

The first patients to be zeroed out included a group of  people who had traveled to Italy, which has become another Coronavirus hotspot, a BMW South Africa Employee who had traveled overseas, a man who contracted it from his Chinese Employer and parent at a Jewish school who had contact with an infected person.

Said Minister of Public Health Zweli Mkhize in a statement:

I wish to announce that as of this morning, South Africa now has a total of 24 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

To be clear, from the 16 that I announced yesterday, 8 more cases of COVID-19 have been confirmed.

Gauteng 4

A 39 year old female who had travelled to Switzerland and Austria
A 50 year old male who had travelled to Austria
A 21 year old female who had travelled to Italy
A 57 year old male who had travelled to Switzerland

KwaZulu-Natal: 2

A 79 year old male who had travelled to Greece and Italy
A 52 year old male who had travelled to Switzerland

Western Cape: 2

A 50 year old male who had travelled to Switzerland and Austria
A 46 year old male who had travelled to Italy

The patients have now been informed and tracing of their contacts is underway.

At this point I wish to also bring it to your attention that there are more positive results that have come out.

The NICD and NHLS are now verifying the information and these results. Thereafter we will make a formal announcement