As we get ready for another weekend under level 1 lockdown, which is looking rather gloomy for those on the Highveld given the weather at the moment, we still need to contend with continuing to limit the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa.
The latest figures from the National Department of Health (NDoH) suggest there is still some work to do in that regard, but we are nowhere near the 11k daily infections of a month ago.
To that end the past 24 hours has seen 1 745 new cases being recorded by the NDoH. This brings the total number of cases for the country to date to 676 084, with more than 4.2 million tests having been performed, according to the department.
As for the number of recoveries, they now sit at 609 854, which translates to a recovery rate of 90 percent, a figure that it was hovered around for the past two weeks now.
Unfortunately 132 new fatalities have been reported by the NDoH, with the number of deaths related to COVID-19 in South Africa reaching 16 866 currently.
Of the new 132. the NDoH says that 41 are from Mpumalanga, 49 from KwaZulu-Natal, eight from Gauteng, seven from the North West, seven from the Northern Cape, six from the Western Cape and 14 from the Free State.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Province | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 110 888 | 103 837 | 7 051 | 4 188 |
| Eastern Cape | 89 359 | 85 301 | 4 058 | 3 124 |
| Northern Cape | 16 893 | 13 740 | 2 859 | 214 |
| Free State | 47 316 | 33 019 | 14 297 | 1 042 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 119 212 | 110 635 | 8 577 | 2 724 |
| North West | 29 463 | 26 540 | 2 923 | 370 |
| Mpumalanga | 27 376 | 26 022 | 1 354 | 561 |
| Gauteng | 220 056 | 196 267 | 23 789 | 4 252 |
| Limpopo | 15 521 | 14 493 | 1 028 | 391 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 676 084 | 609 854 | 66 230 | 16 866 |
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 Claudio Schwarz | @purzlbaum on Unsplash]
