Department spokesperson, Mondli Mvambi, says they are not at liberty to reveal the deceased’s identity, until the department’s officials met with his family. 

Mvambi further adds the family are unhappy because information regarding his death has been leaked on social media.  Therefore, department officials will meet with the deceased’s next of kin and only thereafter reveal further details. This as President Cyril Ramaphosa announced on Monday night that three people have so far died from complications affiliated with the virus.  

OFM News reported earlier that Mkhize – while addressing the nation on Covid-19 – flagged Mangaung, which includes Bloemfontein, as well as Sandton in Gauteng, as potential epicentres of the virus in South Africa. The spike in Bloemfontein has been attributed to a church gathering where five international guests from Israel, Texas and France, who attended the Divine Restoration Ministries prayer gathering, tested positive for Covid-19.

Since then, Mvambi said 1 259 contacts have been identified and 973 have been reached with 773 classified as asymptomatic, meaning they are not showing any signs of the disease. Mvambi said 200 are symptomatic, meaning they are coughing, sneezing, have a throat irritation or difficulty in breathing.

Meanwhile, the number of those infected in the country now stands at 1 326 from 1280 with 31 recoveries and three deaths.

The National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) says so far 38 409 tests have been conducted and there are also 96 uncollected results.  The uncollected results mean that officials cannot make contact with people who tested positive to give them their results, due to the unavailability of contact details.

President Ramaphosa also urged citizens to continue observing the 21-day lockdown regulations by staying at home and keeping safe. Ramaphosa said the country is entering into a new phase and the government will deploy field workers to carry out a massive screening programme in the country to stem the spread of the virus.

OFM News/Olebogeng Motse and Lucky Nkuyane