Statement by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.

South Africa has logged its third official case of Covid-19, the disease caused by coronavirus. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Sunday that he had received results this morning of the direct contact of the first patient – his wife. 

“She had also travelled with him to Italy as part of the group of 10. I now wish to advise the public that she has tested positive for Covid-19 and is, therefore, the third confirmed case in South Africa,” said Mkhize. 

Mkhize had earlier indicated that the first two confirmed cases were from a group of 10 people who had travelled to Italy recently. 

“We confirm that we traced all 10 of these individuals. Nine of them had returned to South Africa. The 10th did not and is therefore not in our country,” he added. 

Mkhize said he expected the results of the other six group members who had travelled to Italy within the next 48 hours. 

“It is important to advise the public that the couple’s children were tested and their results have come out negative. However, as part of taking extra precautions, these children will remain in self-quarantine until their parents have tested negative. At that point, they will also be tested to ensure that they remain negative. Until then, they will be regarded as potentially infected. This means they will continue not to attend school. This is in an effort to curb the risk of spreading it to other children and teachers,” Mkhize added. 

Mkhize said he spoke to the first confirmed patient on Sunday morning. “He was upbeat and jovial. I also spoke to the doctor who is treating him. She confirmed that this patient is responding well and is now asymptomatic. At the right time, as determined by the treating doctors, the patient will be retested to check his recovery progress,” Mkhize explained. 

Mkhize was set to issue a statement later on Sunday, and conduct live interviews to explain to the public the clinical observations and guidelines that are recommended to be followed in instances of asymptomatic patients. 

These will be based on the World Health Organisation guidelines, treatment methodology and disease management approaches that countries like China (who have presented a very high recovery rate), have used in dealing with asymptomatic patients. MC