South Africa has joined the growing number of African countries dealing with the novel coronavirus, officially known as COVID-19.
![Graça Machel was born in 1945 [CGTN]](data:image/svg+xml;charset=utf8,%3Csvg%20xmlns%3D'http%3A%2F%2Fwww.w3.org%2F2000%2Fsvg'%20width%3D'100'%20height%3D'100'%20data-ring-placeholder%3D'1'%3E%3C%2Fsvg%3E "Graça Machel was born in 1945 [CGTN]")
According to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, an unnamed patient has tested positive for the virus.
“This morning,… the National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed that a suspected case of COVID-19 has tested positive,” Mkhize said in a statement.
The virus was detected in a 38-year-old man in the country’s eastern Kwa-Zulu Natal province. The patient and his wife were part of a group of 10 people who travelled to Italy.
After they returned on Sunday, March 1, 2020, the unnamed patient started self-isolating after he had a fever, headache, sore throat and a cough.
Since testing positive for the virus, the health minister added that a tracer team has been sent to South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal province along with epidemiologists and clinicians from the National Institute for Communicable Diseases.
This is the first case in southern Africa and the third in sub-Saharan Africa after Nigeria and Senegal.
Since popping up in mainland China, there have been 96,000 confirmed cases and over 3,300 deaths.
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