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Zweli Mkhize.
COVID-19 has reached the southern tip of Africa, extending its spread around the world.
South Africa has confirmed its first case of the new coronavirus, South Africa's health minister Zweli Mkhize announced Thursday. A 38-year-old man who had recently traveled to Italy tested positive for the disease, and he and the doctor who treated him are now in quarantine.
Africa's coronavirus cases had previously been confined to the northern part of the continent, with several cases confirmed in Senegal, as well as 17 in Algeria and other countries bordering the Mediterranean Sea. Most of those cases could be tied directly to travel in Europe, and had so far been slow to spread.
Meanwhile in the U.S., California reported its first death related to coronavirus on Wednesday, bringing the COVID-19 death toll in the U.S. to 11. Seventeen states have reported COVID-19 cases, and four of them have declared states of emergencies. A cruise ship coming from Hawaii holding 2,500 people is now being held off the California coast for screening.
