Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation, where he confirmed that the country would be going to lockdown alert level 1 from midnight on 20th September. He explained that the decision was taken after the worst phase of cases for COVID-19 in South Africa has passed, with new daily infections averaging less than 2k.
While many South Africans welcome the decision, it remains to be seen how that will impact our COVID-19 numbers, especially as the president reiterated the need to stay vigilant and adhere to lockdown regulations in order to avoid another wave of cases.
As for the latest numbers provided by the National Department of Health (NDoH), the past 24 hours has seen 1 923 new cases being recorded. This brings the total to date to 653 444, with 584 195 recoveries reported too.
This translates to a relatively high recovery rate of 89 percent, which has been something that the NDoH has repeatedly highlighted since we moved to lockdown alert level 2.
Looking at the other important statistics, 64 more fatalities have been recorded, with the country’s number of COVID-19-related deaths now sitting at 15 705. Of the new 64 fatalities, the NDoH says 24 are from KwaZulu-Natal, 14 from Gauteng, nine from the Western Cape, six from the Northern Cape and 11 from Mpumalanga.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Province | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 108 767 | 101 275 | 7 492 | 4 088 |
Eastern Cape | 87 663 | 83 629 | 4 034 | 3 055 |
Northern Cape | 13 727 | 10 486 | 2 859 | 182 |
Free State | 42 602 | 28 586 | 14 016 | 838 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 116 910 | 107 282 | 9 628 | 2 449 |
North West | 27 527 | 22 948 | 4 579 | 325 |
Mpumalanga | 25 986 | 24 653 | 1 333 | 496 |
Gauteng | 215 898 | 191 923 | 23 975 | 3 947 |
Limpopo | 14 364 | 13 413 | 951 | 325 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 653 444 | 584 195 | 69 249 | 15 705 |
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 Camila Perez on Unsplash]