Sixty six people, mostly staff at one South African hospital, have tested positive for coronavirus disease (COVID-19), the health minister said on Tuesday, April 7th, 2020, bringing the country’s total number of cases to 1,749.

The government is now on the verge of temporarily shutting down the health facility.

The South African National Department of Health, Dr. Zweli Mkhize, said the ministry was deeply concerned about COVID-19 outbreak at St. Augustine hospital, located in the south-eastern coastal city of Durban.

The minister said that of the sixty six infected people, forty eight (48) of them are hospital staffers.

As at Tuesday, April 7th, 2020, South Africa has reported a total of thirteen (13) deaths so far, including four (4) at that same hospital.

Mkhize said the government was in negotiation with the management of the hospital “with the view to close it down”.

He said,

We have said they must stop taking any new outpatients and inpatients.

The country is currently under a government-imposed 21-day lockdown, as part of its measures, to curtail the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19).

President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Tuesday, April 7th, during a press briefing that the COVID-19 lockdown had so far helped the country to slow down the spread.

If we had not locked down South Africa as we have, I can tell you without any shadow of doubt that the infection rate… would have been a lot, lot higher than what we have,

he said.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.