Staff Reporter
The Free State now has seven confirmed COVID-19 cases and there are fears the province’s toll is likely to rise as five of the patients were visitors from abroad who had attended a church gathering of more than 200 people in the province without knowing they had contracted the coronavirus.
This was announced by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize at a press conference in Bloemfontein this morning.
He, however, did not say where in the Free State the church gathering attended by the visiting patients was held.
The visitors, two from Texas in the United States, two from Israel and one from France, were being accommodated at an unnamed local bed and breakfast when they began exhibiting symptoms.
“The five who were found to be positive with coronavirus were quarantined in a bed-and-breakfast (facility) and now the whole staff of the establishment are also quarantined,” Mkhize said.
“The members of the church will be evaluated in terms of their risk profile, watched and assessed in terms of their conduct. The numbers of the tracing team need to be reinforced.”
Pupils and teachers at Bloemfontein’s Brandwag Primary School, where two siblings were quarantined after their mother tested positive, were also being screened for COVID-19 as a preventative measure.
Mkhize said South Africa’s COVID-19 toll had risen by 52 cases overnight to 202.
He, however, urged people not to panic despite the massive jump in cases.
“People must not panic. So far no one has died in South Africa and two people have recovered,” the minister said.
“It’s important to know that at some point this will end up like flues. People must just understand that the virus is seeping into nations but not everyone is going to need hospitalisation. We can manage this situation.”