Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation regarding COVID-19 in South Africa.
During his address he announced a handful of amendments to level 1 lockdown regulations, such as the country opening up its borders for international travel, as well as allowing the sale of alcohol during the regular hours prior to the pandemic.
While that is good news for some, Ramaphosa also advised caution, with a rise in infections in the Eastern Cape in particular given cause for concern. As such, the president has asked South Africans to remain vigilant as far as adhering to lockdown regulations goes, under the new COVID-19 Resurgence Plan.
Looking at the latest figures from the National Department of Health (NDoH), 2 140 new cases have been reported over the past 24 hours, pushing the total for the country to date to 742 394.
The NDoH also confirms that 686 458 recoveries have been recorded, resulting in a current recovery rate of 92 percent.
The department also confirms that 60 new fatalities have unfortunately been reported too, consequently increasing the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 to 20 011.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 119 980 | 110 862 | 9 118 | 4 422 |
Eastern Cape | 104 125 | 94 310 | 9 815 | 3 934 |
Northern Cape | 22 502 | 18 661 | 2 859 | 301 |
Free State | 58 120 | 46 751 | 11 369 | 1 618 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 124 325 | 115 555 | 8 770 | 3 268 |
North West | 34 033 | 30 248 | 3 785 | 510 |
Mpumalanga | 30 459 | 29 292 | 1 167 | 610 |
Gauteng | 230 834 | 223 705 | 7 129 | 4 872 |
Limpopo | 18 016 | 17 074 | 942 | 476 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 742 394 | 686 458 | 55 936 | 20 011 |
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 Tembinkosi Sikupela on Unsplash]