The brother of a woman who died at home after contracting coronavirus had to issue a desperate appeal on social media to persuade Italian authorities to come and collect her body.

Teresa Franzese, 47, lived with her family in the southern city of Naples and started to show the symptoms of coronavirus last week.

Her health deteriorated rapidly and she died on Saturday before the results of a test for the disease was known.

Given the uncertainty, undertakers and even the local hospital refused to pick up the body.

“My sister is dead, in bed. I don’t know what to do. I can’t give her the funeral she deserves because the institutions have abandoned me,” her brother Luca Franzese said in a video posted on Facebook

The government is unable to reveal how much it will cost taxpayers to house more than 120 South African citizens, who are being repatriated from Wuhan in China, at a quarantine site in Limpopo.

Speaking at an inter-ministerial briefing at the site – Protea Hotel’s The Ranch Resort – on Thursday night, Health Minister  said the amount would only be known once the repatriation mission concluded.

“We will not be able to give you that until we [are] done. Then we give you the statements,” the minister said.

However, he added that if it meant spending money to save South Africans, the country was ready to assist.

He reiterated that the mission was a humanitarian one. It was not that the citizens weren’t treated well in China but because they had raised concerns that they would rather be home while Wuhan, the epicentre of the virus, was under lockdown.

“We must never lose the fact that we are one family, one nation and belong together…

READ:  us money but at the end of the day, we will go back and say we did save one South African, whatever the cost was,” Mkhize said.

The minister added that there was also nothing wrong with China’s health system because the country had already treated hundreds of people. He pleaded with South Africans to welcome the group and avoid discriminating against them, saying they were not sick and would just be under observation.

Reducing infections

He said the evacuation and quarantine mission was part of the country’s contribution towards fighting the virus, adding that the bigger fight awaiting the country was reducing the number of infections and ensuring that those who were infected were treated and that they recovered.

Government has not decided to put any travel restrictions and bans in place, just yet.

This comes as the number of people testing positive for the coronavirus (Covid-19) in South Africa continues to rise. According to Tourism Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane, various aspects are being looked at before Cabinet can make an informed decision.Kubayi-Ngubane spoke during an inter-ministerial briefing at Protea Hotel’s The Ranch Resort in Polokwane on Thursday night, outlining developments regarding the virus which first broke out in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

The resort, which is situated just 25km from the Limpopo city of Polokwane, is where just over 120 South Africans being repatriated from Wuhan will be quarantined for 21 days.

Warnings and guidelines

Among those involved in the state of readiness briefing were Limpopo Premier Stan Mathabatha, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize, Minister of Police Bheki Cele, Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, and Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi.

Although no decision has been made on travel restrictions – despite other countries, including the US, putting bans in place – the minister said South Africa will, however, issue warnings and guidelines in the meantime.

She said the Department of International Relations and Cooperation (Dirco) is also working on travel advisory notices to advise people, both coming in and going out of the country, to be cautious and how to go about planning their trips.

“There are lessons we are learning from other countries. For example, you put a travel ban for a particular country, and people use another country to enter. It becomes an issue that you are not able to manage, and so we continue to monitor,” the minister said.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United Nations World Tourism Organisation have also issued guidelines on any trips around the world, Kubayi-Ngubane said.

Cabinet has also already started discussions about the possible impact of the virus on the economy.

Impact on economy

Kubayi-Ngubane said the Cabinet had already tasked her office to look at the aspects that could cause potential harm to the economy and a report would be released soon.

The ministry was also looking at the potential harm on labour and a team led by the Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, was working on that aspect.

Earlier this month, Mkhize told Parliament’s health portfolio committee that, given the fact that South Africa had not had any confirmed cases of the Covid-19 disease at the time, it would not be cancelling any

The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) has launched a full-scale investigation after convicted child rapist and model agency boss Dawie de Villiers was found in possession of a cellphone while serving a life sentence in Johannesburg Central Prison.

News24 can exclusively reveal that correctional services officers searched De Villiers’ prison cell on Thursday morning and found a cellphone, which he allegedly used while behind bars.

The discovery was made after a News24 probe into allegations that social media accounts linked to De Villiers were active since he started serving his sentence in July 2019.

De Villiers was sentenced to life in prison for raping and sexually assaulting several teenage girls and young women. Among his rape victims was a girl who was 15 years old at the time.

He faced more than 20 counts, including rape, sexual assault, indecent assault, sexual grooming as well as the possession and accessing of child pornography. It was found he committed the crimes during a five-year period from 2008 to 2013.