South Africa has reported its first case of the deadly novel coronavirus on Thursday Mar. 5, 2020.
The announcement of the infected (male) patient was made by the Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize in a press statement.
“The patient is a 38-old-man male who traveled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 people who arrived back in South Africa on (Sunday) March 1, 2020,” the press statement read.
The breaking news marks the first case of COVD-19 (Coronavirus) in South Africa since the outbreak of the contagious strain in Jan. 2020 after muted reports in Dec. 2019.
“Senegal has reported one case, while Nigeria (the most populous state in the Sub-Saharan region) has reported four…,” Al Jazeera wrote today. SA rises the number of countries affected by coronavirus to three in Africa.
According to the press statement, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed the case on Thursday. Epidemiologists and clinicians from NICD have been deployed to the province of KwaZulu-Natal.
On Tuesday Mar. 3, the man visited a private general practitioner after showing “symptoms of fever, head malaise, a sore throat and a cough,” the media release said. It also revealed that he “has been self-isolating” since Tuesday. The general practitioner is in self-isolation as well, the statement confirmed.
Again, the minister’s statement announced that the couple has “two children”.
Yesterday, Italy ordered the closure of schools and universities across the country.
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported today that “a total of 107 have now been killed by the coronavirus”. Italy is the only country at the moment highly affected in Europe.
No Vaccine for COVID-19
Currently, there is no vaccine for COVID-19. According to Nature, the leading international weekly journal of science:
“Drugs that treat HIV and an experimental antiviral developed to fight Ebola virus are among those that are being rapidly tested against the new coronavirus.”
Various studies have been commissioned globally to find the cure for the novel coronavirus.
Global COVID-19 Death Toll
Reports place the death toll of the coronavirus over 3, 200.
China, the epicenter of the origin of the virus, recorded 3, 013 deaths. However, authorities in China said there is a declining trend with many patients recovering also.
Iran death toll stands at 107, equal to that of Italy to date, according to reports. Meanwhile South Korea, another in Asia with high incidents, has registered 40 deaths.
Other countries in Europe include Germany with six (6) deaths and France with four (4) recorded deaths. The French government has since imposed a ban on all in-door gatherings of over 5, 000 people.
In the Americas, on Wednesday the United States of America reported nine (9) deaths on Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2020.