By the end of this month, the country is expected to receive its first batch of one million vaccines in the effort to fight the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa, according to Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. While we wait to see if delivery will indeed happen by the advised date, there is still the prospect of growing daily infection numbers to contend with.
The latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) show that although the numbers are not as high as they were during the peak festive season, they are still at a concerning level. This as 13 105 new cases have been reported over the past 24 hours, pushing the country’s total infections to date to 1 259 748.
Of that figure, 1 019 123 recoveries have also been recorded, translating to a recovery rate of 80.89 percent, which is a slight increase compared to last week.
Unfortunately the number of new fatalities is on the rise, with 755 reported in the past 24 hours. This results in the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in South Africa being 34 334.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 245 426 | 192 683 | 52 743 | 8 491 |
Eastern Cape | 182 507 | 166 092 | 16 415 | 9 036 |
Northern Cape | 28 090 | 23 890 | 2 859 | 447 |
Free State | 67 581 | 56 460 | 11 121 | 2 351 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 259 100 | 187 266 | 71 834 | 5 497 |
North West | 47 581 | 35 741 | 11 840 | 707 |
Mpumalanga | 47 549 | 38 526 | 9 023 | 722 |
Gauteng | 341 460 | 289 517 | 51 943 | 6 395 |
Limpopo | 40 454 | 28 948 | 11 506 | 688 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 259 748 | 1 019 123 | 240 625 | 34 334 |
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 Matthew Waring on Unsplash]