Health Minister Dr. Zweli Mkhize has confirmed a total of 85 positive cases of Covid-19 in South Africa, an increase of 23 cases from Monday.
In a statement late on Tuesday night, he said it was "notable" that there were eight cases of local transmission.
The Minister said these individuals in Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and Western Cape have had no history of international travel.
In a change to government's reporting protocol, Minister Mkhize said that "in our efforts to ensure transparency we have decided to release results as they are submitted by both public and private labs".
He said this followed debate with clinicians, epidemiologists and virologist on when the government should be releasing results to the public.
"These experts raised issues of an ethical obligation to immediately alert patients as soon as the results become available. This, therefore, means that by the time a confirmation test is conducted in public laboratories, patients would have been notified of their initial results," Mkhize said.
The Minister said while private laboratories have the capacity to test and on their own issue results, he said: "our intention and approach is to ensure there is credibility in the information and results given to the public".
Meanwhile, Mkhize announced that the 114 South Africans who returned from Wuhan in China, seen as the epicentre of the outbreak, had tested "negative for Covid-19".
He said however that the group, which returned home last Saturday, will be kept in quarantine for the prescribed period before being reunited with their families.
