The Minister of Health in South Africa Dr. Zweli Mkhize confirmed on Saturday a second case of the novel coronavirus that causes the respiratory disease known as COVID-19.
A 39-old Gauteng woman has tested positive to Covid-19.
The woman has been admitted to Charlotte Maxeke Hospital, a public facility, in Gauteng – one of the nine provinces in SA.
Gauteng Province (GP) is home to Johannesburg, a mega city which is the economic hub of Africa. According to Statistics SA’s 2019 mid-year population estimates, Gauteng houses the largest share (25.8% which is 15,2 million) of the 58,8 million total population.
Talking to Newzroom Africa, a news channel 405 on DStv in SA, the minister said a team has been dispatched to find the first ring of contacts that came in touch with her – the second COVID-19 patient in South Africa.
The latest patient is one of the 10 South Africans who traveled to Italy recently. The travelers returned home on Sunday Mar. 01, 2020.
On Thursday, one of these travellers (from the Italy trip) tested positive. He became the first person in SA to have contracted the exterminating virus.
First COVID-19 Case in SA
On Thursday, Dr Mkhize announced the first case of COVID-19 in SA. The Durban-man (38) landed by aeroplane with his wife in Cape Town and caught a connecting flight to proceed home in KwaZulu-Natal (KZN).
Again, on Tuesday,the KZN man from Hilton checked himself to a private general practitioner who diagnosed him after experiencing fever, dry cough and breathing difficulties. The results came positive.
The medic consulted the authorities in SA. The government deployed a team of epidemiologists and clinicians from the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) to the concerned area.
The man is recovering well according to the latest updates.
From that point onwards, the government embarked on an improbable search for (possibly) all the people the KZN man, SA’s first coronavirus patient, crossed paths with.
The private doctor who diagnosed him is in isolation.
SA – School Closed Indefinitely
The first (male) COVID-19 patient has two children whose KZN school, Cowen House Prep in Hilton, has closed indefinitely. Although the Durban-man had self-isolated upon realizing that he might have contracted the disease.
The people on his path were encouraged to isolate themselves until health officials attend them and/or they report to the nearest health facility.
For its readiness, the government announced dedicated facilities in each province. Gauteng has more allocations with three public hospitals in Johannesburg, Tembisa [Tembisa Hospital] and Pretoria [Steve Biko Academic Hospital].
Cause/s of the Coronavirus
Coronavirus was first reported in Wuhang, a city in China, in Dec. 2019. There are conflicting reports about the cause/s of coronavirus. For a lack of consensus on the origin/s or cause/s of the airborne virus, a meat market selling wild-animals supplies in China has been flagged.
Vaccine and Symptoms
There is no vaccine for the lethal coronavirus. Yet, scientists around the world are scrambling around for a cure with a vast array of tests and trials.
Coronavirus has been described by World Health Organization (WHO) as:
“Coronaviruses (CoV) are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans.”
The marked symptoms of the exponentially contagious virus are but not limited to:
- fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties.
People can contract the ominous coronavirus if they come into contact with an infected person in different ways such as:
- droplets from cough or sneezing or surface, handshakes, close proximity, etc.
The adverse effects of the virus can lead to “pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death,” WHO reported.
Health specialists along with governments around the world have and continue to urge the public to practice clean hygiene. That is washing hands and avoiding touching the face and congested (indoor) areas and/or gatherings. Additionally, covering noses when sneezing and/or mouth when coughing.
The COVID-19 Spread, Death Toll and Actions
As the death toll worldwide reached over 3, 526, the number of cases globally are nearly 104, 800. In the same score, more than 58, 555 patients have recovered from the deadly strain.
The Health Minister of Democratic Republic of Congo Eteni Longondo was quoted by Michael Kavanagh writing for Bloomberg on Mar. 07 to have said:
‘The Democratic Republic of Congo will quarantine travelers arriving from Italy, France, China and Germany as these are places where the coronavirus spread is “epidemic,”‘.
In Kenya, the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) reported that:
“The country has also banned flights from Iran and South Korea, in addition to an earlier ban on flights from northern Italy and China, in a bid to stop a spread of infections from countries already battling the highly contagious coronavirus.”
The Kenyan authorities have limited all travels out of Africa, save for only necessary and unavoidable trips. Thus, unnecessary overseas trips have been banned effectively.
On Nigeria, the BBC reported of an infected expat:
“The patient is an Italian citizen who works in Nigeria and flew into the commercial city of Lagos from Milan on 25 February. Authorities say he is stable with no serious symptoms and is being treated at a hospital in the city.”
Italy, the worst hit in Europe, is the second highly affected country after China. It has revealed 197 deaths resulting from coronavirus inflictions.
Germany is recording the second highest incidents right behind Italy in Europe. The German government has increased public alerts to raise awareness.
“Iran has confirmed almost 6,000 coronavirus infections and 145 deaths…,” the BBC published on Saturday. Reuters said that schools have been closed in Iran as of “Saturday to Tuesday”.
South Korea has recorded 48 deaths to date of the spreading virus.
Meanwhile France has reported 11 and Spain 10 deaths.
In the Americas, “officials across the United States reported 308 cases of coronavirus and 17 deaths as of Friday,…” the New York Times (NYT) has revealed on Saturday Mar. 07, 2020.
COVID-19 Recovery Efforts
Mainland China, the epicenter of the deadly outbreak, has reported over 3, 000 deaths since the spread began late in Dec. 2019 according to WHO. Although there was hesitation in the Asian pacific country, reports started to emerge in Jan. 2020 when the death count and infections skyrocketed.
Through its concerted efforts, the Chinese authorities are reporting a declining trend in the rate of death and an increase in patients recuperation.
China, through its embassy in SA, has pledged to lend its expertise and experience to the South African government.
On Jan. 30, 2020, the WHO declared the COVID-19 scourge a “Public Health Emergency of International Concern”. Furthermore, on Feb. 11, the World Health Organization named the coronavirus disease “COVID-19”.
WHO also said Africa will be hardest hit because of the dearth of facilities, knowledge and “health systems”.
Africa will be affected the most by the deadly coronavirus virus than China, said Bill Gates, the founder of Microsoft. The energy entrepreneur and philanthropist was ranked the second-richest man in the world by Forbes in 2019.
Not only is coronavirus lethal in its manifestations, but it is wreaking havoc of economic proportions across many industries. The most affected inter alia being the airlines, tourism, sports, arts and performance, and supply-chain enterprises.
There are escalated health alerts across the countries of the world in all continents. Only now the efforts show singularity of purpose.
The resolutions, too, are more pronounced to find the cure and stem out the corrosive coronavirus posing profound health hazards, especially to vulnerable groups of the society.
Health specialists advance that COVID-19 appears more deadly to the frail, aged and chronically-ill among others.