Minister of health Dr Zweli Mkhize has confirmed a second case of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in SA.

The 39-year-old woman from Gauteng was in direct contact with the first case from KwaZulu-Natal. She was part of the group of 10 that had travelled to Italy.

Mkhize also confirmed that a 39-year-old male South African working in Daegu, South Korea, had also tested positive for Covid-19. He was due to return to SA but had since remained in South Korea.

“The public must be notified that we have information and know the whereabouts of all the other 10 people who were part of the group that had travelled to Italy. All those who came back to SA, are currently being tested. We are now awaiting their test results to come out.” Mkhize said

Mkhize said the second patient who tested positive for Covid-19 would immediately be admitted to a public health facility in Gauteng that government had identified as one of the hospitals that were ready to receive Covid-19 positive patients.

“We are now following all the protocols that we have already publicly announced to the public in dealing with this case. We will keep the public fully informed on all relevant developments.

A 38-year-old man from Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal, tested positive for the virus, three days after returning from a holiday in Italy on Sunday, becoming the country’s first confirmed case of the deadly virus.

There are now two confirmed cases of the coronavirus in SA.
Image: REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/File Photo
A top KwaZulu-Natal school has cancelled an academic tour to Italy – this after a man from the province who recently visited Italy was confirmed as SA’s first positive coronavirus case.

In a communique to parents, Kearsney College, in Kloof, said that it had consulted with the parents of the boys who were supposed to go as well as a travel agent and saw it best to cancel the tour.

“A constructive and collegial meeting was held earlier this week with the parents of boys who were to tour to Italy in early April on the annual academic tour. A representative of the travel agency was present as well as Kearsney staff. At that meeting the consensus was that the tour would not go ahead,” said the school.

They assured parents that none within their community had come into contact with patient zero, that they had instituted extra hygiene and that school would continue as usual.

On Friday MEC for education Kwazi Mshengu said that there was no reason for any school in the province to close as a result of the coronavirus. He was speaking at Cowan House preparatory school where he and health MEC Nomagugu Simelane-Zulu, national minister of health Zweli Mkhize, the school’s managers and other stakeholders met parents. This after it emerged that the children of the 38-year-old Hilton father of two who tested positive for the virus attend the school.

Mkhize assured parents that the department had the situation under control and that there was no need for panic in the country. On Saturday Mkhize confirmed that a second person, who was on the trip with the KwaZulu-Natal man, had tested positive in Gauteng.

Meanwhile, in an unrelated incident, Johannesburg private school St Stithians Boys’ College has asked a pupil to “self-quarantine” for the recommended seven days after it experienced a coronavirus-related incident at the school on Thursday.

“During an interview at the school, one of our parents received a message to alert him that his business associate in KwaZulu-Natal had tested positive for the coronavirus. Our parent has had no contact with the infected individual but had met this week in Johannesburg with colleagues who came from the same work offices of the infected individual,” said the school.

A Vredenburg man was arrested within minutes of fatally stabbing his estranged wife on Friday afternoon.
Image: 123RF/Markus Schnessl
A 43-year-old man from Vredenburg in the Western Cape was apprehended within minutes of allegedly stabbing his estranged wife to death on Friday.

The 40-year-old victim was seven months pregnant.

“Vredenburg police were notified of a murder that took place in Greenfield Street, George Karrige, Vredenburg. When the members arrived on the scene they were notified that the suspect had fled the scene on foot. A quick chase ensued and the suspect was found and arrested in the vicinity of the crime scene.

“The suspect was removed from the scene as female community members wanted to harm him,” said police spokesperson Capt FC van Wyk.

The suspect will appear in the Vredenburg magistrate’s court on Monday on a charge of murder.

A woman who posed as a patient displaying symptoms of the coronavirus in the Eastern Cape could face criminal charges.

The woman presented herself as potentially being infected with Covid-19 at Grey Hospital in King William’s Town, saying she was employed by

Thursday after returning from Italy.

The woman refused to give staff more information.

On verification, it was discovered she was unemployed, and the story was a fabrication.

Understandably, doctors and nurses ran around testing the woman and taking steps to ensure the woman was isolated. The possibility to have a case of coronavirus in the Eastern Cape caused unnecessary panic among hospital staff and nurses at Grey Hospital.

“This was a childish and selfish hoax by the woman that is condemned with the contempt it deserves,” said provincial health spokesperson Sizwe Kupelo.

The Eastern Cape Department of Health will be opening a case against the women, confirmed Kupelo.

“Because of the seriousness of the [novel] coronavirus, the Eastern Cape Department of Health will open a case with the police against the woman who lied about having the virus. Her family confirmed to the department that she has no history of mental illness, hence the police will be roped in.”

A 39-year-old woman, who was part of the same travel group to Italy as the first case, has been diagnosed with the virus.

On Thursday, Mkhize released a statement saying the National Institute for Communicable Diseases had confirmed the first positive test – a 38-year-old man from KwaZulu-Natal.

More than 300 people have been tested for the coronavirus.

The family of murdered UCT student Uyinene Mrwetyana is suing the SA Post Office after employee Luyanda Botha killed her at one of its branches in Cape Town.

The SA Post Office’s acting CEO, Ivumile Nongogo confirmed it received a claim from the Mrwetyana family, which was being looked at by lawyers.

Nongogo refused to comment further. that family spokesperson Thembelani Mrwetyana said the family had taken this step because Botha was employed by the post office despite his criminal record and knowledge of it by officials. The information was not conveyed to the executive or the board.

“We had a look at circumstances surrounding this terrible ordeal. One, it happened within a state institution building that is the South African Post Office.

“Two, the perpetrator is an employee of the state and then thirdly and more concerning for us, is that the South African Post Office actually knew that the perpetrator at one point was at loggerheads with the law, and yet still they decided to employ him,” the SABC’s report said.

Botha is currently serving life in prison after pleading guilty to raping and killing Uyinene.

He received a life sentence for murder, two life sentences on both counts of rape, and five years for defeating the ends of justice. The five-year sentence will run concurrently, and he will not be eligible for parole for 25 years. Her remains were found days later in Lingelethu West, burnt and buried in a shallow grave.

Botha had a conviction relating to a 1998 carjacking for which he received an eight-year sentence, of which five were served and three suspended.

According to the police, he had also had an attempted rape case laid against him, which was subsequently withdrawn.