The doctor who examined the first coronavirus-positive South African has called for calm and warned people not to panic because the illness was similar to the flu.

Dr Robyn Reed, who is based in Hilton, KwaZulu-Natal and who is herself quarantined, said the patient is recovering and his family did not appear to be infected.

On Thursday, South Africa confirmed its first case of coronavirus, a man from Hilton, who had visited Italy on holiday. The man, his wife and two children are all quarantined. Schools in Hilton closed on Friday among some public hysteria. Members of the public were seen wearing protective masks. on Friday that Covid-19 and the flu shared similar symptoms.

“The patient himself is currently much better. I phoned his wife [on Friday] morning and she said he is doing very well. The wife and two children are currently fine. The family was tested this morning by the National Institute [for] Communicable Diseases.”

Reed said her staff was checked on Friday. “This is hugely blown out of proportion. People are making a huge hysterical panic about something that is a very bad flu. Most of the people who are going to get over it like they get over the flu.”

Tuesday that pension funds – including those in the private sector – could be a source of funds to save debt-ridden power utility Eskom.

He added that he understood people were worried about their pensions being used to “go down a loss-making entity”, but added that Eskom was being “revitalised” and would be worth investing in.

“The Reserve Bank estimates there are over R8 trillion in pension funds. Imagine if 10% of that went into alternative investments – that’s R800 billion for Eskom and water projects,” Ramaphosa said.

using funds from the Government Employees Pension Fund, through the Public Investment Corporation and other state-owned developmental institutions, to take over R250bn of Eskom’s R450bn debt obligations.

Cosatu’s proposal was used as a basis for talks between unions, government and business bodies.

‘Eternal fountain’

For Herman it is concerning that the “debates” on forcing pension funds to invest have been around “for a long time, but they keep on coming back”.

“The proviso, though, is that borrowers need to show respect to investors via crystal-clear corporate governance and transparency, something the SOEs are not renowned for,” says Herman.

“The savings industry will invest vast amounts of money – more than the 10% quoted [by Ramaphosa] – into thoroughly governed development and infrastructure products, companies and vehicles. A restructured Eskom seems an unlikely candidate, though, as the original break-up into three has now become ‘divisionalisation’.”

For Herman this means “the deck chairs (sic) are just being reshuffled and potentially the bad characters will still be benefiting down the line, undermining any concept of developmental investment”.

South African English teacher based in Daegu, South Korea, is in quarantine after testing positive for the Covid-19 virus.

Hein Cloete, 39, has been teaching in South Korea since 2012.

His sister, Celesti Mathews, said Cloete tested positive for the virus earlier this week.

“His contract of employment had expired, and he was heading home from Daegu, where the outbreak happened. Upon arrival at Incheon International Airport, his temperature was high, and he tested positive for the coronavirus. He was then taken away and quarantineTesting

“I think our government needs to do testing for all people coming from the five top countries with the most detected cases or start refusing travellers from those countries,” Mathews said.

Government Communication and Information Services (GCIS) earlier said that 184 South Africans have indicated their desire to be repatriated from coronavirus-hit Wuhan in China.

Twenty-nine-year-old Lwando Mashiamahle was waiting for his girlfriend who was queuing to buy a plane ticket at OR Tambo International Airport when the power bank in his pocket overheated and combusted into flames

Fortunately, he was not injured, but he did lose his pants in the incident.

Thought it was normal’

He told News24 that he left his power bank charging overnight because he knew he would need it the next day – and maybe he overcharged it.

“It felt quite hot in my pocket but I thought it was normal, like sometimes your phone heats up when you’re using it, but I never thought it could explode,” he said.

According to Mashiamahle, it was a “very, very bad” experience because he didn’t know what was actually happening.

“I was so shocked, I didn’t know what to do, I automatically just lost my mind. I was very, very scared,” he said.

Mashiamahle went back to the vendor to tell them what had happened but he couldn’t find him

Airport staff sent him the footage of the incident captured on CCTV camera, which he sent to a friend who posted it on Twitter with the heading: “Guys stop buying power banks ko Small street (sic)”.

A second case of the novel coronavirus has been confirmed in South Africa.

A 39-year-old woman from Gauteng, who was part of the same travel group to Italy as the first case, has been diagnosed with the virus, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Saturday.

The Department of Health has details on the rest of the tour group and those who have returned to South Africa are being tested, Mkize said.

“The second patient who has now tested positive for Covid-19 will now be immediately admitted to a public health facility in Gauteng that government has identified as one of the hospitals that are ready to receive Covid-19 positive patients,” he said.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 South Africa are currently being tested. We are now awaiting their test results. Since being traced, they have remained in isolation to avoid any further contact with third parties.”

“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.

Africa and has since remained in South Korea.

“We are now following up with the South Korean authorities firstly to obtain formal confirmation of this case and also the details of where our citizen is being treated,” Mkhize said.

The minister reiterated his call for calm and cooperation from the public and the media during this period. “We also request that the privacy of the patients, the affected individuals and families be respected.

“Our commitment to do everything in our power to mitigate against the uncontrollable spread of COVID-19 in our country, remains.”