Department seeing recovery of previously COVID-19 cases

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.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says the department is seeing the recovery of people 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 traveled to DRC.

· A 43-year-old female who had traveled to the UK.

· A 54-year-old female who had traveled to the UK.

· A 58-year-old male who had traveled to the UK.

· A 38-year-old male who had traveled to France.

· A 70-year-old female who had traveled to the USA.

· A 30-year-old male who had traveled to Spain.

· A 45-year-old male who had traveled to DRC.

· An 85-year old male who had traveled to Switzerland.

· A 64-year-old male who had traveled to Vietnam and Thailand.

· A 41-year-old male who had traveled to the 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 traveled to the UK.

· A 26-year-old male who had traveled to Mexico and the USA.

· A 29-year-old female with no contact details on lab form, information is obtained from a private doctor.

Mpumalanga: 1

· A 56-year-old female who had traveled to France.

Western Cape: 15

· A 53-year-old female who had traveled to the UK.

· A 30-year-old male who had traveled to the Netherlands and Qatar.

· A 45-year-old male who had traveled to Mexico.

· A 70-year-old female who had traveled to the USA.

· A 25-year-old female who traveled to the UK.

· A 37-year-old female who traveled to the UK.

· A 43-year-old female who traveled to the USA.

· A 31-year-old male who traveled to Spain and the Netherlands.

· A 53-year-old female who traveled to Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany.

· A 22-year-old female who traveled to the UK.

· A 63-year-old male who traveled to Switzerland, Austria, Czech Republic, and Germany.

· A 22-year-old female who traveled to Spain and the Netherlands.

· A 32-year-old male who traveled to the USA.

· A 37-year-old male with no contact details on the 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 analyzed in terms of mapping, to facilitate urgent tracing of contacts of the patient

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 the 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.

(With Inputs from South African Government Press Release)