As of Saturday, South Africa had 240 confirmed cases of Covid-19, an increase of 38 from Friday’s announcement, said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
The Eastern Cape recorded its first confirmed case with a 28-year-old female patient who had travelled to Germany.
“When you deal with epidemics, you need to understand that the virus can affect many people. It can even go up to 60%. It doesn’t mean that those people are going to die or get it at the same time. It doesn’t mean that we have an apocalypse. The virus is going to be with us for quite a while, it will be one of those viruses that our bodies will have to build new immunities to face,” said Mkhize on the expected spread of the virus.
President Cyril Ramaphosa will on Sunday hold engagements around the national state of disaster, beginning with a consultation with business leaders at the Union Buildings.
“The engagement with business forms part of a series of meetings the President has held with various stakeholder constituencies – including communities of faith and the nation’s political leadership – in the week since his declaration on 15 March 2020 of the national state of disaster.
“Ramaphosa will also chair a meeting of the National Command Council which will receive an update on the Covid-19 outbreak; progress and challenges related to implementation of the recently promulgated regulations on the state of disaster and other measures to protect the country, as well as economic impact,” said the Presidency in a statement.
The council will consider whether the measures that are currently in place to contain the spread of the virus are sufficient and what further measures are required.
The president will then address the nation on a date to be decided by the council.