Four more Covid-19 infections in Eastern Cape

Eastern Cape and Nelson Mandela Bay coronavirus infections rose on Saturday.

Contacted on Saturday afternoon about unconfirmed reports of a staff member at Dora Nginza Hospital falling ill with the virus and asked to confirm the new infection figure for the Bay, provincial health spokesperson Siya Manana said only: "the number is 11."

He was pressed for further details but had not responded by the time of publishing.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane said on Friday eight people were infected with the virus in the Bay.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Eastern Cape Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba, Judy Ngoloyi, confirmed that the provincial infections figure had risen by four from 17 on Friday to 21 on Saturday. 

This means there are three new infections in Nelson Mandela Bay and one elsewhere in the province.

In more cheerful news, Mabuyane said on his Facebook site on Saturday 10 farmers and nine provincial department of agriculture officials who had been quarantined after they returned from a trip to Germany on March 21 had now been discharged.

"All 19 people who were screened and quarantined for two weeks, were officially tested for COVID-19 on Thursday. All the results came back negative - a successful first case of quarantine in the province," the premier said.

Health MEC Sindiswa Gomba thanked the farmers and officials for their patience and understanding that they had undergone the quarantine for the people of the Eastern Cape and the whole country, he noted.

"It is evident that quarantining process works, when necessary precautions are taken and regular monitoring is undertaken."

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