South African Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Patricia de Lille has tested positive for the coronavirus and is in self-quarantine as part of efforts to shake off the disease, her office confirmed on Monday.
According to her ministry’s spokesperson Zara Nicholson, de Lille tested positive for Covid-19 after showing symptoms of the deadly disease at the weekend.
“As per Covid-19 regulations, she immediately self-quarantined,” Nicholson said.
The spokesperson said the minister has advised that “those she had come into contact with to do the same.”
She is the latest minister in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s cabinet to test positive for the virus, with most of them having recovered following treatment.
South Africa has recorded over 5,000 Covid-19 cases for five days in a row, bringing the total number of infections to 1,696,564 following the detection of 5,074 new infections on Sunday.
The country’s death toll has now increased to 56,974 after 45 people succumbed to the disease overnight, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said.
Some 1,343,433 South Africans have been vaccinated in continued efforts to jab 40 million people to achieve a herd immunity that would stop the pandemic that broke out in the country in March 2020, Mkhize said.
NM/jn/APA