Before we begin we’d like to take a moment to explain what is happening here.
“Why is a technology news website covering COVID-19 news,” is a question we’re bound to receive so we’re going to address it right here.
Regulations published by Stella Ndabeni-Abraham states that “all internet sites operating within .zaDNA top level domain name must have a landing page with a visible link to www.sacoronavirus.co.za”.
As we fall under that regulation, we are required to link to the Department of Health’s website but we’re taking that a step further.
Every morning and every afternoon we will publish an update regarding COVID-19 in South Africa. For the purpose of these updates we will refer solely to the following sources of information:
- National Institute for Communicable Diseases
- Department of Health
- The World Health Organisation
- South African Government
We understand that folks are doing amazing things with data-viz and there are comments from experts that can help, but our goal with these updates is to provide you, our reader, with accurate information from trusted sources. If the source is not reliable, it will not be linked here.
We will also be placing a banner on our home page which you can click at any time to be directed to www.sacoronavirus.co.za.
Our latest update follows on below:
As South Africa inches closer to reaching alert level 3 lockdown on 1st June, the latest COVID-19 numbers provided by the NDoH indicate that another spike in cases has occurred.
The latest figures place the number of positive cases at 24 264, with the number increasing by 649 within the last 24 hours, according to the department.
Added to this is the growing concern regarding the availability of testing kits. Unlike other PPE, testing kits need to be official certified to ensure the results can be verified, and consequently access to those kits is proving a challenge.
“As a country, we are now facing a challenge with the global shortage of testing reagents. We understand it is becoming a challenge to many other countries,” Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, noted earlier this week.
Looking at the numbers once agin, the number of deaths in the country has risen to 524, with the Western Cape continuing to lead the nation’s provinces in terms of positive cases.
With 605 991 tests being conducted to date, the number of recoveries are now sitting at 12 741, which means roughly 50 percent of those who have contracted COVID-19 in the country, have been able to fight it.
The breakdown of cases per province is as follows:
Province | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 16893 | 8504 | 8389 | 391 |
Eastern Cape | 3047 | 1491 | 1556 | 70 |
Northern Cape | 48 | 30 | 18 | 1 |
Free State | 221 | 123 | 98 | 6 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 2186 | 1180 | 1006 | 49 |
North West | 128 | 39 | 89 | 1 |
Mpumalanga | 106 | 62 | 44 | 0 |
Gauteng | 3167 | 1955 | 1212 | 31 |
Limpopo | 141 | 62 | 79 | 3 |
TOTAL | 25937 | 13446 | 12491 | 552 |
As always, in order to stay up to date with the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa and abroad, we advise the following materials and platforms:
- Dr Zweli Mkhize on Twitter
- COVID-19 Connect on WhatsApp – add 0600 123 456 as a contact and say “Hi”.
- World Health Organisation
- SA Coronavirus website
- SA Government
- SA Presidency.
[Image – Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash]