Last night the President addressed the nation regarding COVID-19 in South Africa. He confirmed that the first batch of vaccine had landed in the country, as well as the easing of lockdown regulations. The latter decision was taken as a result of a decrease in new daily cases, with 2 548 being recorded over the past 24 hours. According to president Ramaphosa, it is the lowest figure recorded since the peak of the second wave during December.
Whether the easing of restrictions will see a significant change in the number of new infections remains to be seen, but people are still urged to adhere to regulations where possible.
Looking at the other figures from the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH), the total number of infections to date is now 1 456 309, with 1 306 022 recoveries also being recorded. The recovery rate has remained at 89 percent from yesterday as a result.
Unfortunately, however, 235 new fatalities have also been recorded, with the Western Cape, Eastern Cape and Gauteng contributing the largest numbers at 64, 59 and 51 deaths respectively. Consequently, the total number of fatalities related to COVID-19 in South Africa has been pushed to 44 399.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 269 819 | 243 505 | 26 314 | 10 311 |
| Eastern Cape | 192 118 | 178 325 | 13 793 | 10 713 |
| Northern Cape | 32 057 | 27 590 | 2 859 | 583 |
| Free State | 76 468 | 64 572 | 11 896 | 2 732 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 315 762 | 260 195 | 55 567 | 8 588 |
| North West | 57 262 | 46 440 | 10 822 | 966 |
| Mpumalanga | 65 417 | 60 438 | 4 979 | 988 |
| Gauteng | 389 230 | 371 208 | 18 022 | 8 249 |
| Limpopo | 58 176 | 53 749 | 4 427 | 1 269 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 1 456 309 | 1 306 022 | 150 287 | 44 399 |
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 – United Nations COVID-19 Response on Unsplash]
