The move comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa last month ordered the repatriation of South Africans trapped in Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak. "I have full confidence that our soldiers will execute this mission successfully. This is a task to bring back our children from China," President Ramaphosa said at OR Tambo International Airport ahead of their departure on Tuesday night.

He assured South Africans that the returnees were all healthy.

"They are not sick, and we need to make that very clear – we are not going to fetch disease-ridden people out of China. We are bringing back healthy people whose parents are all like us. They have said we would like our children to come back," he said.

The team will stop in the Philippines on the way to Wuhan.

To date, South Africa has 13 confirmed Covid-19 cases. Some of them were part of a group of 10 who returned from Italy on March 1 while others also traveled to different parts of Europe in recent weeks. 

It is estimated that there are 199 South Africans citizens in Wuhan as per the latest consolidated list from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation. However, only 122 of them have expressed the desire to be repatriated. They have been living under lockdown conditions following the outbreak of the corona virus in December 2019. Upon arrival in South Africa, they will be placed in quarantine for 21 days as an additional precautionary measure. 

The coronavirus has affected 120 countries and territories around the world.

Over 119,378 people have been diagnosed globally, with 4,300 deaths recorded and over 66,583 people having recovered.
Egypt has the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa, with 59 people testing positive, and one death so far.