Health Minister Mkhize addressed the media on Wednesday:
The number of people testing positive for Covid-19 is 709.
“We will never know if everyone is testing the disease. We have done 12,000 tests so far. That’s a lot and a great start. What we see is a shortage of test devices and equipment. We expect more tests to be done much more at the local level. It will take a while, especially since international flights can no longer be flown. We expect this to improve next week.”
“As we speak, our latest results are from people tested before 8pm last night. The number of people who test is the one who went to doctors to test. Depending on how fast the tests can be done, we are notified. After the restriction announced, we had a rise of people who let them test. However, we still have to go out and test people who have not traveled. If we do, the number of positive cases will increase. As with the church in the Free State where we have so far received up to 30 people who tested positive because of the five who were initially ill. That is why we have to quarantine people so that they do not spread further.”
“We are now beginning to see many more people in the country being infected with the disease. Our medical experts are now beginning to rethink who everyone should be tested for. Initially, most people who returned from overseas trips were tested. So we now also have to test medical workers.”
A few doctors in the country were also affected the Minister said.
- A doctor in Limpopo who traveled overseas. He is 28 years old and has been in self-isolation for the past 14 days.
- A doctor in Mpumalanga who is infected and quarantined as part of his job. Hospital is disinfected and others are tested.
- A doctor in the Free State. We keep looking for more doctors or medical workers who are lit.
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