South Africa’s Employment and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi has become the second cabinet member to be hospitalised after testing positive for the coronavirus, the presidency announced on Tuesday.
According to the presidency, Nxesi was hospitalised Monday night, just hours after his colleague, Minerals Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe, was also admitted to a clinic for COVID-19 treatment after he and his wife had been in self-isolation for a week.
Nxesi received his virus test results on Friday and had placed himself in self-isolation as well, the office said.
His hospital admission, however, followed advice from his doctors to leave his self-quarantine for hands-on treatment at the unnamed clinic.
“We wish Ministers Nxesi and Mantashe well and a speedy recovery,” Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, said on Tuesday.
South Africa has to 373,628 confirmed cases of the virus which has killed over 5,000 people since its outbreak in the country in March, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
NM/jn/APA