New coronavirus cases in SA: We now have a hat-trick of ‘firsts’

A week after the first coronavirus case was confirmed in South Africa, we’ve now officially got 17 affected patients; one of which is in a critical condition at a Gauteng hospital. The spread of the disease may not have been as swift as we’ve seen in other countries, but nonetheless, Thursday has become a chastening day for South Africa.

Coronavirus – updates from South Africa

That’s because the four new cases reported earlier today have a few unique traits. According to the health department, tracing teams are already trying to find citizens who have been in contact with the infected parties.

“As the South African government, we take note of the World Health Organisation and their announcement that coronavirus is now a pandemic – this means it is a worldwide spread of a new disease. Today, on 12 March 2020, South Africa now has 17 cases of COVID-19. This is up by four cases from yesterday.

“Our tracing teams are now making a list and have started contacting individuals that have been identified as these patients’ contacts. At this stage, all patients are in self-quarantine and have mild to moderate symptoms. They are also on symptomatic treatment.”

Zweli Mkhize

Coronavirus in South Africa: A number of ‘firsts’:

First cases in two provinces

Of the four new cases reported on Thursday, two of them became the first cases for Free State and Mpumalanga respectively. This comes after the Western Cape recorded its own “patient zero” on Wednesday, six days after coronavirus-stricken South Africans were identified in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

First local transmission

The Free State case is particularly interesting, as it marks the first “local transmission” in South Africa. Essentially, the term refers to the disease being passed on from one person to another in the same country. It’s understood that the South African citizen came into contact with a Chinese businessman who had COVID-19 earlier in March.

First confirmed case involving travel from the US

In all the cases reported prior to Wednesday, there were links to tour groups across Europe. Patients who had visited Italy, Switzerland and Germany have all “brought the coronavirus back” with them.

But a Johannesburg resident who tested positive on Wednesday, becomes the first person to transport, for lack of a better word, the illness from the United States (US). His layover in Dubai is also under scrutiny.