SOUTH Africa recorded its first death from coronavirus yesterday as its infection tally breached the 1,000 mark just hours after a three-week nationwide lockdown took effect.

The news came as World Health Organisation director for Africa warned of a “dramatic evolution” of the disease which has, according to AFP tally, killed 94 out of nearly 3,500 infected people across the world’s poorest continent.

South Africa has the highest number of confirmed cases at 1,170 in the continent.

Earlier Health Minister Zweli Mkhize had reported two deaths, but late yesterday he revised the toll to one. The second patient had died on admission.

“The clinical picture was suggestive of Covid-19 and therefore a test was conducted,” and came back negative, Mkhize said in a statement. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa has ordered South Africa’s 57 million people to stay at home for 21 days, joining countries across the globe in imposing strict measures to halt the spread of the disease.

The patient who died in the Western Cape province was a woman aged 48. She was suffering from pulmonary embolism, the minister said. 

The tally of infections in Africa’s biggest industrialised economy could reach 1,500 “within a few days”, Ramaphosa has warned.

Meanwhile, Bernama reports that Jordan confirmed its first fatality from the Covid-19 today with the death of an 83-year-old female patient, the head of Prince Hamza Hospital in Amman, Abdulaziz al-Khashman, said.

Al-Khashman said the victim had a chronic disease, Anadolu Agency reported according to the nation’s official news agency, Petra.

Official figures show cases of the virus in Jordan have reached 235.  

Government spokesman Amjad Al Adailah said a nationwide curfew to stem the spread of the virus began March 21.

Brunei Darussalam reported its first death from virus in the country, the Health Ministry said today.

According to the ministry, the deceased was a 64-year-old man who returned to Brunei from Malaysia and Cambodia on March 4, Xinhua news agency reported.

The man who passed away last night at the National Isolation Centre in Tutong District is the 25th Covid-19 case in the sultanate.

A new case was confirmed yesterday in Brunei, bringing the national total to 115.

After emerging in Wuhan, China last December, the virus has spread to at least 175 countries and regions.

The number of confirmed cases worldwide has surpassed 593,000, while the death toll is above 27,000 but nearly 130,000 have recovered, according to data compiled by US-based Johns Hopkins University. – AFP, March 28, 2020.