The number of positive coronavirus cases has jumped to 24 on Friday, with more expected, after eight more people tested positive for the global pandemic.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize on Friday morning announced that there has been four new cases in Gauteng, two in KwaZulu-Natal and another two in the Western Cape.

The positive cases include people who recently travelled to Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Greece.

This bring the total number of cases in Gauteng to ten, 10 in KZN, three in the Western Cape and one in Mpumalanga.

The oldest person in the new cases is a 79-year-old male in KZN while the youngest is a 21-year-old in Gauteng.

“The patients have now been informed and tracing of their contacts is under way,” Mkhize said.

According to Mkhize, South Africans should expect another announcement of more positive cases which are still being verified.

“At this point I wish to also bring it to your attention that there are more positive results that have come out. The NICD [The National Institute for Communicable Diseases] and NHLS [National Health Laboratory Service] are now verifying the information on these results. Thereafter we will make a formal announcement,”  Mkhize said.

He said they wanted to verify results before making the announcement to ensure accuracy. This is after a misdiagnosis of the results of a Free State man who had initially tested positive but after verification it was found that he was actually negative.