Most South African COVID-19 Patients are Recovering Well At This Stage, Says Mkhize

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says the health department is seeing the successful recovery of people in South Africa who had tested positive for COVID-19.

“We are in the process of conducting further confirmation tests and medical examinations then we [will] formally inform the public on the number of recoveries. At this stage, most of the patients are recovering well,” he said.

The President, as per information he received from the Health Minister, on Thursday announced that South Africa now has 150 confirmed cases of COVID-19.

This means there has been an increase of 34 positive cases.

The breakdown per province is as follows:

Gauteng: 15

A 41 year-old female who had travelled to DRC.
A 43 year-old female who had travelled to the UK.
A 54 year-old female who had travelled to the UK.
A 58 year-old male who had travelled to the UK.
A 38 year-old male who had travelled to France.
A 70 year-old female who had travelled to USA.
A 30 year-old male who had travelled to Spain.
A 45 year-old male who had travelled to DRC.
An 85-year old male who had travelled to Switzerland.
A 64 year-old male who had travelled to Vietnam and Thailand.
A 41 year-old male who had travelled to Netherlands.
A 37 year-old female with no international travel history.
A 23 year-old male with no contact details on lab form, information being obtained from the private doctor.
A 5 year-old female with no contact details on lab form, information being obtained from the private doctor.
A 44 year-old male with no contact details on lab form, information being obtained from the private doctor.

KwaZulu-Natal: 3

A 71 year-old female who had travelled to the UK.
A 26 year-old male who had travelled to Mexico and USA.
A 29 year-old female with no contact details on lab form, information being obtained from private doctor.

Mpumalanga: 1

A 56 year-old female who had travelled to France.

Western Cape: 15

A 53 year-old female who had travelled to the UK.
A 30 year-old male who had travelled to Netherlands and Qatar.
A 45 year-old male who had travelled to Mexico.
A 70 year-old female who had travelled to USA.
A 25 year-old female who travelled to the UK.
A 37 year-old female who travelled to the UK.
A 43 year-old female who travelled to USA.
A 31 year-old male who travelled to the Spain and Netherlands.
A 53 year-old female who travelled to the Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany.
A 22 year-old female who travelled to the UK.
A 63 year-old male who travelled to the Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic and Germany.
A 22 year-old female who travelled to Spain and Netherlands.
A 32 year-old male who travelled to USA.
A 37 year-old male with no contact details on lab form.
A 53 year-old male with no international travel history.

“As it will be noted in the above breakdown, we have stated that the contact details of some of the confirmed cases were not included in the laboratory form. This therefore puts more pressure on the NICD and provinces to track down the private doctor that the patient consulted, in order to obtain the patient’s details,” said the Health Department.

The Minister pleaded with all doctors to complete the forms comprehensively so that all the patient’s information is immediately available.

This, the department said, will assist in ensuring that the confirmed results are also analysed in terms of geomapping, to facilitate urgent tracing of contacts of the patient.

COVID-19 Cases Expected to Rise in South Africa

Meanwhile the health minister has predicted that “we are quite certain by [Friday] we would have gone much higher, probably just under 200,” corona virus cases in South Africa.

Meeting with private laboratories

On Thursday afternoon, the Health Minister held an urgent teleconference with Chief Executive Officers of private laboratories that are performing the COVID-19 tests.

At this meeting, the private laboratories expressed their commitment and willingness to work hand in hand with government to perform the tests for COVID-19.

The meeting acknowledged that in order to allow for consistent reporting of cases, all information will be sent to the NICD in real time. There will be collaboration and proper compilation of the results, thereafter it will be released to the public. – SAnews.gov.za