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Coronavirus pandemic

South Africa confirms first coronavirus case

The patient is a 38-year-old male who travelled to Italy with his wife

South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize AP Photo/Denis Farrell

South Africa's Health Minister Zweli Mkhize

© AP Photo/Denis Farrell

MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. The first coronavirus case has been confirmed in the Republic of South Africa, the country’s Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told reporters.

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"The patient is a 38-year-old male who travelled to Italy with his wife. They were part of a group of ten people and they arrived back in South Africa on March 1," Mkhize said, as cited by the News24media outlet. "The patient consulted a private general practitioner on March 3 with symptoms of fever, headache, malaise, a sore throat and a cough," he added.

Coronavirus outbreak

In late December 2019, Chinese authorities notified the World Health Organization (WHO) about the outbreak of a previously unknown pneumonia in the city of Wuhan, central China. Coronavirus cases have since been reported in more than 70 countries, including Russia. Most cases outside of China have been recorded in South Korea, Iran and Italy.

According to the WHO, about 93,000 people have been infected with the virus across the world. The death toll has passed 3,200. The WHO declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus a global health emergency and named the virus COVID-19.

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