Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation, focusing once again on COVID-19 in South Africa and the recent rise in new daily infections.
The president urged South Africans to take the lockdown regulations more seriously heading into the festive season, and observe caution in the coming weeks as the second wave of cases is expected to intensify.
He also added Sarah Baartman and the Garden Route as COVID-19 hotspots, joining Nelson Mandela Bay as three such regions in the country. KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are being observed to by the National Department of Health (NDoH), with cases in those provinces also rising steadily alongside the Eastern Cape and Western Cape.
As for the latest statistics from the NDoH, 5 163 new cases have been reported over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections for SA to date now sitting at 866 127.
The department adds that over 5.88 million tests have been conducted, along with 762 746 recoveries being recorded as well. The latter translates to a recovery rate of 88.06 percent, with that number dropping slightly with each passing day.
Exacerbating the latest news is the fact that 175 new fatalities have been recorded, with the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in South Africa rising to 23 451.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa, sans updated recoveries and active cases, is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 156 554 | 125 854 | 30 700 | 5 129 |
| Eastern Cape | 149 510 | 126 748 | 22 762 | 5 586 |
| Northern Cape | 23 759 | 21 474 | 2 859 | 372 |
| Free State | 59 846 | 53 663 | 6 183 | 2 085 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 142 924 | 120 242 | 22 682 | 3 462 |
| North West | 35 729 | 33 918 | 1 811 | 571 |
| Mpumalanga | 32 341 | 31 076 | 1 265 | 617 |
| Gauteng | 246 116 | 231 573 | 14 543 | 5 115 |
| Limpopo | 19 348 | 18 198 | 1 150 | 514 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 866 127 | 762 746 | 103 381 | 23 451 |
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 engin akyurt on Unsplash]
