The Department of Health has confirmed that as of Monday morning South Africa now has 62 confirmed and verified cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19).
It added that there are more cases but these are yet to be verified.
The department reported that Limpopo now has its first confirmed case, 29 year-old male who had travelled to France and Netherlands.
“We also wish to mention that there are two cases of local transmission which have been presented to the NICD. These are under investigation. We are in the process of conducting confirmation tests and establish their direct contacts and those whom they have subsequently come into contact with.
“All the patients have been advised and contact tracing is underway,” said the department in its statement.
There are seven new cases in Gauteng:
– A 33 year-old male who had travelled to Spain
– A 68 year-old female who had travelled to Austria
– A 30 year-old male who had travelled to India
– A 39 year-old male who had travelled to the US
– A 43 year-old female who had travelled to the US
– A 50 year-old male who had travelled to France and the UK
– A 37 year-old male who had travelled to the US, Dubai and Mexico
Two new cases in the Western Cape:
– A 39 year-old male who had travelled to Canada
– A 15 year-old male who had travel travelled to France
One case in Mpumalanga is a 55 year-old male who had travelled to France.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) at the weekend announced that doctors no longer need to contact the NICD for approval to test for COVID-19 as long as they apply the case definition before testing.
The NICD will test the submitted samples as long as the required supporting documents accompany the sample which is available on the NICD website: http://www.nicd.ac.za/diseases-a-z-index/covid-19/.