Inmates at Pollsmoor Prison in Cape Town will not be attending court for the next two weeks due a diphtheria outbreak that has claimed the life of a 19-year-old inmates.The Department of Correctional Services in Western Cape confirmed that this will be limited to all inmates at the Medium A Section.

The Regional Correctional Services Commissioner, Delekile Klaas, said all necessary arrangements were made to inform the courts about inmates who won?t be attending due to the life threatening outbreak.

"All offenders who are at Medium A correctional facility are placed under lockdown, which means all those offenders are not allowed to move out of that facility for the next 14 days." Klaas urged staff members to exercise extra pre-caution even at home, although they have not been affected.

"We advise them to try and contain themselves. I think we are treating this thing more or less similar to how we treated Covid-19."

In a statement the National Department of Health said the inmate died on Sunday after experiencing symptoms including: a thick grey-white coating that may cover the back of the throat, nose and tongue, a high temperature (fever), sore throat, swollen glands on the neck, difficulty breathing and swallowing.

They said eight more inmates are said to have tested positive, with only two experiencing mild symptoms. The19-year-old male inmate showed diphtheria symptoms on 28 October and was referred to the local hospital for further medical care. 

?Throat swabs were collected the same day for culture laboratory testing and the results returned positive five days later on 2 November. Unfortunately, his health condition continued to deteriorate until he regrettably passed away on 5 November. Diphtheria is a highly contagious and potentially life-threatening bacterial infection of the respiratory tract," read the statement.