A 70-year-old doctor in Free State province in South is now under intensive care as the country witnessed a growing number of health workers being infected by the coronavirus.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said, the country had recorded 1,187 cases as of Saturday night, an increase of 17 in the last 24 hours, adding that 13 of the new patients are health workers.
“It must be emphasized that none of these health workers were infected by patients that they were treating,” Mkhize said, without giving more details on how they got infected.
According to the South African National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), most of the cases in the country involved people who had traveled to Europe, the United States or the Middle East.
The majority of those without international travel history have had recent contact with people who traveled abroad, the NICD said.
So far, South Africa has the largest number of COVID-19 cases on the continent, with one coronavirus-related death reported. The country began a 21-day national lockdown from midnight on Friday.
