



The Department of Health has confirmed the first case of coronavirus in South Africa.

The statement issued by the department says 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 3 March, with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough.

The patient has been self-isolating since then.

The department also says a tracer team has been deployed to KwaZulu-Natal with epidemiologists and clinicians from NICD.