The relentless onslaught of the coronavirus disease is starting to take its toll on South Africa. Another 31 cases have been reported since Tuesday’s midnight announcement. In fact, over the past 24 hours, we’ve gone from 62 cases up to 116 – with the amount of infected patients almost doubling in the country.
JUST IN: The Health Department has confirmed the number of positive #coronavirus cases in the country has now reach 116. This means there has been an increase of 31 new cases. #CoronaVirusSA
— Jacaranda News (@JacaNews) March 18, 2020
Coronavirus cases in South Africa – how many, where, and what age?
It’s a terrible blow for the government and their health departments, who have vowed to release new information on coronavirus as and when it is released. The last data shows us that, once again, Gauteng has the highest number of new cases – rising by 16 on this occasion.
A three-year-old child was the youngest provincial case, with “the oldest new patient” aged 71. Neither have travelled abroad, and both caught the disease through local transmission. For those who did get the disease while overseas, Austria and Italy were the most popular destinations.
In KZN, three people in their fifties – all with recent travel history to Italy – have also come down with coronavirus. There are two cases in Mpumalanga to report as well, as a male and a female – age 64 and 56 respectively – tested positive for COVID-19.
Zweli Mkhize gives COVID-19 update
Meanwhile, the Western Cape registered another 10 cases overnight. The youngest is a two-year-old boy who had recently returned from New Zealand. One reported patient in their sixties fell victim to local transmission. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has issued a statement on the matter:
“Today we have a further increase of six local transmission cases. As part of tracking and tracing, we have collated background information on how these patients were infected. We will provide more information to the public to make them aware of how these local transmissions occur.”
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize
Source: The South African Read MoreBREAKING: South Africa now has 116 #CoronaVirus cases confirmed.31 new cases tested positive.#CoronaVirusSA #COVID19 @Newzroom405 pic.twitter.com/8vYwSEVqd3
— Athi Mtongana (@Artii_M) March 18, 2020
