The recent long weekend provided South Africa with a much needed break from the chaos of lockdown, as well as the chance to begin important conversations around gender-based violence on Women’s Day. Unfortunately, the long weekend has also seen the number of fatalities from COVID-19 in South Africa increase to 10 621.
This after the National Department of Health (NDoh) recorded a further 213 deaths recorded on Monday evening.
Added to this is the addition of 3 740 new COVID-19 infections over the past 24 hours, bringing the total to 563 598 to date.
The number of new daily infections appear to be on the decrease, but whether that is part of a larger trend remains to be seen, with a few weeks worth of declining numbers needed before we can say that it is under control, according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.
Focusing specifically on the new fatalities, the NDoH says 64 are from Free State, 57 from the Eastern Cape, 39 from Gauteng, 30 from the Western Cape, 11 from KwaZulu-Natal, 10 from Mpumalanga and two from the Northern Cape.
The hardest-hit provinces remain the same as they have been over the past couple of months, with Gauteng at 193 561 cases, the Western Cape with 100 213, KwaZulu-Natal at 99 386 and Eastern Cape 82 578.
Thankfully the recovery rate is on the up of late, having risen to 74 percent, the NDoH adds.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Province | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 100 213 | 86 861 | 13 352 | 3 429 |
| Eastern Cape | 82 578 | 76 886 | 5 692 | 2 266 |
| Northern Cape | 6 802 | 3 307 | 2 859 | 68 |
| Free State | 28 909 | 13 039 | 15 870 | 414 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 99 386 | 55 155 | 44 231 | 1 420 |
| North West | 21 933 | 12 136 | 9 797 | 130 |
| Mpumalanga | 19 455 | 15 833 | 3 622 | 149 |
| Gauteng | 193 561 | 145 776 | 47 785 | 2 618 |
| Limpopo | 10 711 | 8 207 | 2 504 | 127 |
| Unknown | 50 | |||
| TOTAL | 563 598 | 417 200 | 146 398 | 10 621 |
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 Macau Photo Agency on Unsplash]
