On Sunday night, 29 March, the Health Department released the news that a 74-year-old man from Ladysmith in KwaZulu-Natal has been confirmed as the second person to die from COVID-19 in South Africa.
“He had travelled to Kruger National Park with his family and came back with flu-like symptoms. He was confirmed Covid-19 positive on 27 March,” said Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize.
The man had been on a ventilator at a private hospital in the central KwaZulu-Natal town, Dr Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.
The man had “underlying skin cancer condition [melanoma], which had already complicated”.
“He presented with the following symptoms: respiratory distress, shortness of breath, cardiac failure, decreased saturation and his temperature was above 38 degrees.”
The 14 health workers (including specialist doctors) and the man’s family, who were in contact with him, are all in quarantine and being monitored for any symptoms.
The Health Department also announced that the number of COVID-19 cases has increased to 1 280. This means that there was an increase of 93 cases since Saturday, 28 March. Of those 584 were in Gauteng, 310 in the Western Cape, 167 in KwaZulu-Natal and 72 in the Free State. There were also 100 “unallocated” cases.
