It was announced on Thursday 19 March that the total number of confirmed cases of coronavirus in South Africa are now at 150.
The figure was confirmed by the Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, while addressing members of the National Command Council tasked with handling the coronavirus outbreak.
As of Wednesday morning, the total number stood at 116 which means the number has rose by 34 in just one day.
The new numbers in each province have not been confirmed as yet.
Coronavirus cases increase
On Wednesday 18 March, when the number had increased to 116, Gauteng had the highest amount of confirmed cases.
A three-year-old child was the youngest provincial case, with “the oldest new patient” aged 71. Both caught the disease through local transmission.
In KwaZulu-Natal, three people in their fifties – all with recent travel history to Italy – also came down with coronavirus. There were two cases in Mpumalanga to report as well, as a male and a female – age 64 and 56 respectively – tested positive for the coronavirus.
The Western Cape registered another 10 cases overnight. The youngest was a two-year-old boy who had recently returned from New Zealand. One reported patient in their sixties fell victim to local transmission.
Travel ban introduced as safety precaution
Due to the rapid transmission rate of the coronavirus, Ramaphosa introduced a travel ban on Sunday 15 March. He also encourgaed South Africans to enforce social distancing and self-isolation.
“We will limit contact between persons who may be infected. We’re imposing a travel ban on foreign nationals from Italy, Iran, South Korea, Germany, the United States and China from Wednesday 18 March. We have cancelled visas from those countries. We advise against all travel to the EU, the United States, China, Iran and South Korea – this is effective immediately,” he said.
“Any foreign national who has visited these countries in the past 20 days, will be denied a visa. Anyone returning to South Africa from these high-risk countries will be quarantined for 14 days. All travellers who entered SA from these nations since mid-February are asked to get themselves tested,” he added.
Schools in the country were closed on Wednesday 18 March and will only reopen after the Easter holidays for extra safety and to lower the spread of the coronavirus.
Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology Blade Nzimande also announced the closure of universities and colleges on Tuesday 17 March to contain the spread of coronavirus.
Source: The South African Read More
