Today is the eve of the country’s first lockdown as a result of COVID-19 in South Africa. That hard lockdown took effect in an effort to prepare our healthcare system for the anticipated wave of infections, but also to limit the spread of the virus during the first couple of weeks of the pandemic.
Looking at the latest numbers from the National Department of Health (NDoH), we have unfortunately failed on both accounts, as most countries across the world have.
The report confirms that 1 048 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours as the total number of infections to date now sits at 1 540 009. The department also reported that over 9.69 million tests have been conducted to date, while 1 466 595 recoveries were recorded too. The latter sees no move in the recovery rate, which remains at 95 percent.
As for the vaccine rollout for frontline healthcare workers, things are moving slowly. To that end only 207 808 vaccines have been administered to date, which puts more pressure to get the next phases of the rollout underway.
Exacerbating matters is the fact that 121 new fatalities have been reported over the past 24 hours as well. Of the new 121, the NDoH says the Free State and Limpopo account for 38 a piece and Gauteng contributes 24. This brings the death toll to date related to COVID-19 in South Africa to 52 372.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 281 531 | 265 285 | 16 246 | 11 430 |
Eastern Cape | 195 006 | 183 447 | 11 559 | 11 351 |
Northern Cape | 35 684 | 32 309 | 2 859 | 802 |
Free State | 82 404 | 77 267 | 5 137 | 3 613 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 333 207 | 317 455 | 15 752 | 10 138 |
North West | 63 086 | 59 522 | 3 564 | 1 413 |
Mpumalanga | 74 037 | 71 758 | 2 279 | 1 338 |
Gauteng | 412 106 | 399 450 | 12 656 | 10 166 |
Limpopo | 62 948 | 60 102 | 2 846 | 2 121 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 540 009 | 1 466 595 | 73 414 | 52 372 |
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 Martin Sanchez on Unsplash]