It was only a matter of time.

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has now confirmed that South Africa’s first suspected case of the coronavirus, or COVID-19, has tested positive.

The test result was confirmed by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID).

News24 reports:

“The patient is a 38-year-old male who travelled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of 10 people and they arrived back in South Africa on 1 March,” Mkhize said in the statement.

“The patient consulted a private general practitioner on 3 March with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough.”

The practice nurse then took swabs and delivered it to the laboratory. The patient has been self-isolating since 3 March.

“The couple also has two children. The Emergency Operating Centre (EOC) has identified the contacts by interviewing the patient and doctor. The tracer team has been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal with epidemiologists and clinicians from the NICD.”

OK, so it’s officially touched down in KZN.

The doctor is said to have self-isolated, so hopefully, the number of people they came into contact with has been kept to a minimum.

You can follow updates on News24 here, and watch the live press briefing here.

We wondered how prepared South Africa would be for any potential outbreak, and I guess we’re about to find out.

[source:news24]