“However, as part of taking extra precautions, these children will remain in self-quarantine until their parents have tested negative. At that point, they will also be tested to ensure that they remain negative. Until then they will be regarded as potentially infected. This means they will continue not attending school. This is in an effort to curb the risk of spread to other children and teachers.”

First patient is ‘jovial’

Mkhize said he had spoken to the first confirmed patient on Sunday morning.

“He was upbeat and jovial. I also spoke to the doctor who is treating him. She confirmed that this patient is responding well and is now asymptomatic. At the right time, as determined by the treating doctors, the patient will be retested to check his recovery progress,” Mkhize said.

The minister said the department will issue a statement on Sunday and conduct live interviews to explain to the public the clinical observations and guidelines that are recommended to be followed in instances of asymptomatic patients.”These will be based on the [World Health Organisation] guidelines and treatment methodology and disease management approaches that countries like China (which has presented a very high recovery rate) have used in dealing with asymptomatic patients,” Mkhize said.

Two more cases

On Thursday, South Africa confirmed its first case of coronavirus, a 38-year-old man from Hilton, who had visited Italy on holiday with eight friends. The man, his wife and two children had all been isolated in their home.

A second case of the novel coronavirus was confirmed in South Africa on Saturday.

A 39-year-old woman from Gauteng, who was part of the same travel group to Italy as the first case, was diagnosed with the virus, Mkhize confirmed.

– DailySun