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South Africa reported its first case of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday.
He said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed that a suspected case of COVID-19 had tested positive.
"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 2020.
"The patient consulted a private general practitioner on March 3, with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough.
"The patient has been self-isolating since March 3. The couple also has two children," said Mkhize.
He said South Africa's emergency operating centre (EOC) had identified contacts by interviewing the patient and doctor.
The tracer team had been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal with epidemiologists and clinicians from NICD. The doctor had also been self-isolating.
