As we near the end of July, South Africa’s number of COVID-19 infections continues to climb. The situation shows no signs of abating, with the National Department of Health (NDoH) looking for any kind of hope.
To that end the latest statistics sees South Africa record fewer than 10 000 new cases for two days in a row, which makes it the first time that has happened in a month.
Consequently yesterday saw 7 232 cases recorded, which is down by 112 compared to the previous day. This brings the total number of cases at the time of writing to 459 761.
Gauteng remains the worst affected province in the country, with it accounting for 35.8 percent of infections, which converts to 164 584 cases. The next three worst provinces in terms of the number of infections also remains the same, with the Western Cape at 92 983, Eastern Cape registering 75 067 and KwaZulu-Natal recording 68 101 cases.
As such it makes for rather dire reading in a lockdown level 3 period that feels like it has dragged on for some time now.
Health Minister, Zweli Mkhize, as he routinely does these days, also confirmed the number of fatalities over the past 24 hours, which sits at 190 and brings the total amount of COVID-19-related deaths to 7 257.
Breaking down the recent deaths in terms of provinces, Mkhize says that 62 are from KwaZulu-Natal, 55 from Gauteng, 49 from the Western Cape, 13 from the North West and 11 from the Eastern Cape.
The minister has still tried to remain positive with regard to testing and recoveries in the country, noting that over 2.8 million tests have been conducted, while 287 313 people have recovered to date.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Province | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 92 983 | 76 835 | 16 148 | 2 960 |
Eastern Cape | 75 067 | 60 745 | 14 322 | 1 545 |
Northern Cape | 3 997 | 1 244 | 2 753 | 29 |
Free State | 18 134 | 2 178 | 15 956 | 154 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 68 101 | 27 682 | 40 419 | 685 |
North West | 17 791 | 6 638 | 11 153 | 72 |
Mpumalanga | 11 552 | 5 812 | 5 740 | 65 |
Gauteng | 164 584 | 102 614 | 61 970 | 1 680 |
Limpopo | 7 502 | 3 565 | 3 937 | 67 |
Unknown | 50 | |||
TOTAL | 459 761 | 287 313 | 172 448 | 7 257 |
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 Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash]