By CHRIS ERASMUS More by this AuthorZindzi Mandela, youngest daughter of former South African President Nelson Mandela and anti-apartheid activist Winnie Madikizela-Mandela, tested positive for Covid-19 the day she died. This fact, widely known informally but initially not confirmed, was made public by the Mandela family as the Covid storm engulfing the country threatened to close schools again – perhaps for the rest of the academic year. Ms Mandela, who was the country's Ambassador to Denmark, died in a Johannesburg hospital in the early hours of Monday morning, aged 59. Currently, tests are taking up to 7 days to return results, meaning that the real incidence of Covid-19 in re-opened school communities could run into thousands. Increasing pressure on South Africa’s stretched-to-the-limit health capacity is now putting that relatively good performance of keeping deaths down under question.

Source: Daily Nation July 16, 2020 10:38 UTC