Johannesburg,South Africa –  A Gauteng family who tested positive for Covid-19 and fled from the hospital has been nabbed by the police after the provincial health department approached the courts to quarantine the family.

The family had refused to be quarantined after they were confirmed to be have been infected with the coronavirus.

Kwara Kekana, a spokesperson for the Gauteng Department of Health, said the department approached the court on Monday night to ensure that the family was forced into quarantine.

“The department approached the court on Monday night requesting an urgent order to ensure that we don’t interfere with the constitutional rights of the patients without a court order. The court order was granted around 1am this morning in favour of the department,” said Kekana.

The department then alerted the police to trace the family and on Tuesday just after midday, the police located the family.

“We are pleased that the family was found around 12h30 this afternoon and is currently being attended to at a designated health facility,” said Kekana. 

Health authorities are appealing with South Africans to co-operate with healthworkers as the country grapples with containing the coronavirus outbreak.

More than 190 000 people around the world have been infected with coronavirus, with more than 7500 deaths around the world.

More than 80 000 people have recovered from the virus.

In South Africa, there are more than 60 people who have tested positive for Covid-19 and there have been no deaths since the first patient tested positive last Thursday.

Kekana said the family, a wife and her daughter, had tested positive and the husband had refused to be tested, leaving the hospital without swabs being retrieved from him.

“We wish to commend the South African Police Service for swiftly attending to the matter.

“As stated by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday we need to work together to fight this pandemic,” said Kekana.