Durban - JOHAN Kinsey-Ahlers, the first person from the South Coast to test positive for the novel coronavirus, says his faith in God helped him to recover.
The Ramsgate resident said both he and his family had been symptom-free for the past few weeks, and had been given the all-clear by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). Last month, Kinsey-Ahlers released a statement confirming he had tested positive after travelling on business to Germany in February. At that time, Germany had not imposed travel restrictions.
According to the Johns Hopkins University, which is tracking the
virus globally, as of Wednesday, Germany had more than 132 000 confirmed cases of infections, 3495 deaths and 72 600 recoveries.
Kinsey-Ahlers underwent testing after President Cyril Ramaphosa called for individuals who had returned to South Africa from abroad to do so.
He had been greatly concerned that he had been in contact with a number of people after returning.
“The initial news (testing positive) certainly came as a shock, and was extremely disruptive to our lives as well as our businesses, and we chose to quarantine everyone pending testing and isolation protocols to be followed.
“We had great support and guidance from local emergency teams, doctors, the Ugu Municipality’s environmental and disaster management staff, and the NICD,” he said.
People had made negative comments about his testing positive, but he decided to focus on the positive messages of support.
He understood that the negative comments were made out of fear.
The father of three thanked God when he received the news that both he and his family were in the clear and that the approximately 100 people he had been in contact with after returning had tested negative.
In lockdown, Kinsey-Ahlers and his family are keeping themselves busy by doing chores and other activities. The experience has brought him and his family closer together.
He said his business, a car dealership, had been affected by the lockdown, but he was trying hard to support his staff and ensure his business survived.
He was not under the illusion that his business would “return to normal” after the lockdown. “It is going to be a battle to survive,” he said.
He believed his faith and hope would get him through the difficult times, as they had in the past.