South Africa records first local coronavirus case
South Africa’s health minister Zweli Mkhize has announced the first local case of coronavirus.
Mkhize says a 32-year-old man contracted Covid-19 after he came into contact with a Chinese businessman.
“All others have been by patients who had travelled abroad,” the ministry said, adding that the number of confirmed cases had risen to 17 from 13 on Wednesday.
Since the outbreak began in Wuhan, China in December, more than 126,000 people have been infected by the coronavirus around the world and more than 4,600 have died, according to WorldOMeter.
There are now more than 134 cases recorded in 12 countries in Africa, according to the latest figures from the World Health Organization.
Egypt has the highest number of cases with 67, more than half of all confirmed cases on the continent.
Most of the cases in Egypt are of passengers and crew members aboard a Nile cruise ship coming from the southern city of Aswan to Luxor, Egypt state-run Ahram Online reported.
According to Ahram Online, one person a German citizen died on Sunday becoming the first death in Egypt from Covid-19.
The 12 countries are; DRC Congo (1) Burkina Faso (2) South Africa (17) Togo (1) Cameroon (2) Algeria (24), Egypt (67), Morocco (6), Nigeria (2), Senegal (4), Ivory Coast (1) and Tunisia (7).
The number of those who have fully recovered stands at over 68,000 with Egypt as the only African country that has reported 27 people who have fully recovered from Covid-19