As we find ourselves in the latter half of January, it looks like measures to remain in adjusted level 3 lockdown are having the desired result when it comes to decreasing the new daily infections for COVID-19 in South Africa. This as the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirms 9 010 new cases over the past 24 hours.
While that number is high, it is more than half of what we saw during the festive season and last week.
Looking at some of the other figures in the report, the total number of cases to date now sits at 1 346 936, with 1 117 452 recoveries also being recorded. This translates to a recovery rate of 82.96 percent, which too is promising.
Unfortunately, however, 344 new fatalities have been reported over the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections related to COVID-19 in South Africa to 37 449.
As numbers continue to fall, it will be interesting to see what happens once schools and universities begin taking on students, with the former scheduled for mid-February and the latter set for the beginning of March.
With 2020’s academic being heavily disrupted as a result of the pandemic, it remains to be seen what kind of impact it will have in 2021, with a truncated curriculum now the norm for many learners and educators.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 258 124 | 209 049 | 49 075 | 9 220 |
Eastern Cape | 187 171 | 172 623 | 14 548 | 9 510 |
Northern Cape | 29 757 | 24 655 | 2 859 | 509 |
Free State | 70 891 | 58 065 | 12 826 | 2 473 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 283 176 | 214 798 | 68 378 | 6 409 |
North West | 51 547 | 37 293 | 14 254 | 783 |
Mpumalanga | 53 843 | 45 226 | 8 617 | 797 |
Gauteng | 364 269 | 315 982 | 48 287 | 7 009 |
Limpopo | 48 158 | 39 761 | 8 397 | 739 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 346 936 | 1 117 452 | 229 484 | 37 449 |
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 Kelly Sikkema on Unsplash]