Western Cape premier Alan Winde, who is presiding over the country’s epicentre of coronavirus, has tested positive for the deadly illness.
Winde announced today that he received his positive results this morning and was in self-isolation at his home for the next 14 days.
“On Sunday, I started to develop mild flu-like symptoms. As I am Diabetic (type 2) and over 55 years of age, I know I am at a higher risk of developing a more serious illness. I, therefore, went to be tested to determine the cause of the symptoms on Monday,” he said.
Winde became the second premier in the country to test positive for the disease, which is a pandemic, in recent days.
On Tuesday, North West Premier Job Mokgoro announced on Tuesday, that he had tested positive for the virus, and that MEC Of Public Works Saliva Molapisi, has also tested positive for COVID-19 and was also in self-isolation.
ANC treasurer Paul Mashatile is also in self-quarantine after a staffer in his office tested positive.
Winde warned people to take the virus seriously.
“I have stayed at home as soon as I started feeling sick and can confirm that I am only experiencing mild symptoms. It feels like I have a cold. However, given my risk category I will be carefully monitoring my health to make sure that any change is picked up quickly,” he said.
Winde said he would still be taking all meetings to coordinate the province’s Covid-19 response. This comes as the province continued to account for most of the deaths related to the virus, sitting at 2145 of the total deaths of 3502.
