As the country nears the end of its first week of lockdown, a Durbanville family is mourning the death of Madeleine van Wyk, 48, the first person to die in South Africa of Covid-19.
Ms Van Wyk tested positive for the virus on Wednesday March 25 and died on Friday March 27.
She was admitted to the Durbanville Mediclinic on Monday March 23 after feeling sick since March 16.
Her husband, who did not want to be named, said that when his wife was admitted the doctors diagnosed her with pulmonary embolism, a blood clot disease blocking an artery in the lungs.
The couple had not expected the Covid-19 diagnosis.
”The results came as a big shock to us. The virus is everywhere,”Ms Van Wyk’s husband said.
Following Ms Van Wyk’s death, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde expressed his condolences to Ms Van Wyk’s family. And with cases in Cape town rising, he urged the public to comply with lockdown regulations and practise good hygiene.
As of March 31, there were 256 confirmed Covid-19 cases in Cape Town, with 17 in the Cape Winelands, 21 along the Garden Route and seven in the Overberg, to bring the total of infections within the Western Cape to 310.
Mr Winde said: “Each and every one of these cases, from Khayelitsha and Mitchell’s Plain to Mossel Bay – is of very serious concern for my government.