GEORGE NEWS - A resident of Oubaai (just outside George), Cameron Anderson, has tested positive for Covid-19 and is in self-isolation.
An update with details surrounding his case will follow as we receive information.
George Herald is awaiting his response to our questions regarding his experience. He has let us know that he has asked the Health Department to approve the information about the recommended treatment procedure that he is providing in his response.
In the meantime, a George student of Belcomec Training College is in self-isolation after a friend of his tested positive for Covid-19.
Belcomec confirmed that the parents of a student fetched him from the college yesterday morning, Thursday 19 March, after being informed that a friend of his had tested positive. The friend had, according to information, recently travelled abroad and returned to George last Friday, 13 March.
The student and the friend had had close contact last weekend.
Efforts by George Herald to contact the student’s family and the Covid-19 positive friend were unsuccessful.
Grissel Adams of Belcomec said the student had been in class yesterday with four other students, who had all been informed of the situation and advised to self-isolate.
An employee of a local plumbing business is also self-isolating after he had visited the student at home before the latter had been informed of his friend’s positive status. The business has not been affected as the employee had not returned to the office following the possible exposure.
Garden Route spokesperson for the Department of Health Nadia Ferreira said they will from now on only announce regional statistics and not cases per town.
Mediclinic George manager Kassie Karstens said no new cases have been tested positive at the hospital.
Pathcare George, that is responsible for sending away local test samples to their laboratory in Cape Town, said they will not be giving more detail than the official figures from the NICD and the Department of Health.
The Health Department’s updates only provide a regional break-up of statistics.
Sinenhlanhla Jimoh, the spokesperson for the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD), said that she could not confirm cases of single patients due to their code of ethics, but can only confirm the number of latest cases in the province, as issued by the Department of Health.
The public is advised to call the coronavirus hotline on 0800 029 999 with any suspected cases of coronavirus, or to report or obtain information relevant to the pandemic.
CURRENT STATUS OF CASES OF COVID-19 IN SOUTH AFRICA, 20 MARCH AT 11:40:
Total cases: 202
New cases: 52
1 Full recovery (Confirmed negative and cleared for returning home)
0 Deaths
The breakdown per province of total infections is as follows:
Gauteng: 109
Western Cape: 57
KwaZulu-Natal: 29
Mpumalanga: 5
Limpopo: 1
Free State: 1
The National Department of Health (NDOH) will now be releasing results as they are submitted by both private and public laboratories. In instances where NDOH confirmatory tests yield different results, the public will be duly informed.
* The George Herald is aware of several rumours about Covid-19 cases in George that are doing the rounds. We try to follow up on such rumours, but it takes time and often difficult to get confirmation. Those affected are not always willing to publicly speak out about their status.
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