Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Thursday announced that South Africa now has 17 confirmed cases of coronavirus (COVID-19). This is an additional four cases from Wednesday.
South Africa has recorded the first local transmission case after a Free State man tested positive for the coronavirus without travelling abroad.
The new four cases are from the following provinces:
FREE STATE: 1
A 32-year-old male who came into contact with a Chinese businessman. This is the first case of local transmission as all others have been by patients who had travelled abroad.
KWAZULU-NATAL: 1
A 38-year-old male from Durban who lives in Turkey and was visiting his family in South Africa has tested positive. He had travelled to the UK and returned to SA on 7 March 2020.
MPUMALANGA: 1
A 27-year-old female from Mpumalanga who had travelled to the United States. She returned to South Africa on 7 March 2020.
GAUTENG: 1
A 43-year-old male from Johannesburg who had travelled to New York via Dubai and returned to South Africa on 8 March 2020.
Stock markets are on course for another day of heavy losses as concerns mount over the coronavirus crisis will lock down global economic activity for an extended time.