A 38-year-old South African doctor, who recently returned from Italy with his wife, has tested positive for the deadly coronavirus.

In a statement on Thursday, health minister Zweli Mkhize said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases confirmed that a suspected case of Covid-19 has 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 March 1.”

“The patient consulted a private general practitioner on March 3, with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough. The practice nurse took swabs and delivered it to the lab,” he said.