Update: South Africa now has 17 cases of COVID-19, first local transmission

Update: Government has now stated that the Free State local transmission case actually tested negative for COVID-19. It has therefore revised the total number of cases to 16. At the time of writing, there is no known local tranmission cases of COVID-19 in South Africa.

Original article: Four new cases of COVID-19 coronavirus has been identified in South Africa on Thursday, bringing the total number to 17. More importantly, the country has now also identified its first local transmission of the virus.

Previously, all cases have travelled into South Africa from abroad. A new case in Free State though has been infected within the country.

“A 32-year-old male came into contact with a Chinese businessman, making it the first case of local transmission, as all other cases have been by patients who had travelled abroad,” said an SA Gov News release.

[Read] SA confirms first case of local transmission of #Covid_19 #CoronavirusInSA #CoronaVirusUpdate @HealthZA @nicd_sa @DrZweliMkhize pic.twitter.com/fIkHtTd2q9

— SA Gov News (@SAgovnews) March 12, 2020

The other three cases — in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and Mpumalanga — continue the latter trend.

The news comes just hours after the WHO declared the COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic.

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Feature image: coyot via Pixabay