As July draws to a close this week, we are still grappling with the impact of the third wave of infections for COVID-19 in South Africa as the country moves to a lower level of lockdown.
This week has seen the number of newly recorded daily infections decrease from their height a couple of weeks ago, but the most concerning statistic at this stage is the death rate, as each day hundreds of people are succumbing to the virus as the delta variant continues to ravage the country.
The latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) says 370 new fatalities have been recorded in the past 24 hours, as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rises to 70 388.
As for infections, 7 773 have been reported by the department, as the total number of cases for the country to date climbs to 2 391 223. The NDoH also confirms that over 14.63 million tests have been conducted to date, while the recovery rate has increased slightly to 91.2 percent. The latter figure might be good to see, but the concern around fatalities still remains.
Looking at the vaccine rollout, 225 808 jabs have been administered over the past 24 hours with 6 854 667 vaccines administered in total as of 17:00 on 28th July. This number will hopefully increase rapidly in September, when those aged 18 to 34 can also receive vaccinations, but for right now, no confirmation of when registration for this age bracket will be permitted.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 385 005 | 340 525 | 29 819 | 14 661 |
| Eastern Cape | 224 708 | 205 915 | 6 137 | 12 656 |
| Northern Cape | 65 629 | 59 718 | 4 208 | 1 703 |
| Free State | 126 927 | 109 287 | 11 971 | 5 669 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 387 464 | 354 467 | 21 566 | 11 431 |
| North West | 124 658 | 98 837 | 22 940 | 2 881 |
| Mpumalanga | 121 015 | 112 869 | 6 475 | 1 671 |
| Gauteng | 847 043 | 800 530 | 29 995 | 16 518 |
| Limpopo | 108 774 | 98 346 | 7 230 | 3 198 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 391 223 | 2 180 494 | 140 341 | 70 388 |
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 Mediamodifier on Unsplash]
