World-renowned virologist Gita Ramjee became the first Indian-origin South African to die after contracting the novel coronavirus in the country.
So far five people have died in South Africa from COVID-19.
Ramjee, a stellar vaccine scientist and an HIV prevention research leader, had returned from London a week ago but reportedly showed no symptoms of COVID-19.
Ramjee, 64, was the Clinical Trials Unit Principal Investigator and Unit Director of the HIV Prevention Research Unit of the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) offices in Durban.
Five South Africans have died from COVID-19 since Sunday, the third day of the lockdown. Over 13,50 cases have been reported in the country so far.
The South African government on Tuesday announced that it will double to 10,000 the teams going door-to-door to test people for COVID-19, mainly in the overcrowded Black townships created during the apartheid era.
On Sunday evening, in a national broadcast, Ramaphosa cautioned thousands of South Africans who have not been taking the lockdown seriously.
The death toll from the rapidly-spreading coronavirus pandemic has risen to 41,654 and over 850,580 people have been infected by the deadly virus, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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