wld_200305 entebbe virus-1583413498514
A passenger originating from China has his body temparature taken upon arrival on an international flight as he waits to be screened for signs of the novel coronavirus at Entebbe Airport on March 3. Image Credit: AFP

Johannesburg: South Africa on Thursday confirmed its first case of coronavirus, a man who had visited Italy.

“The National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed that a suspected case of Covid-19 has tested positive,” the health ministry said.

“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 March 1, 2020,” it added.

Read more

The ministry said it would brief the media later in the day to provide more details.

Last week President Cyril Ramaphosa ordered the repatriation of nearly 200 citizens from Wuhan.

The health ministry said the patient, in the eastern province of KwaZulu-Natal, had been self-isolating since Tuesday after consulting a doctor over symptoms of coughing, a sore throat, headaches and a fever.

The doctor has also self-quarantined.

The health officials said a “tracer team” had been deployed to the province together with epidemiologists and clinicians to further investigate the circumstances of the infection.