This week could prove a crucial one for the country as fears over the upcoming Easter weekend have been raised as a potential enabler for a third wave of infections for COVID-19 in South Africa. It is why rumours are growing that government will announce a move to level 2 lockdown later this week, but for now, there is no official word.
While we await any movement on that front, there is still the number of daily infections to consider, with the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirming that 965 have been recorded over the past 24 hours.
This has pushed the total number of infections for SA to date to 1 545 431, with over 9.8 million tests having been conducted, according to the department. Recoveries are now sitting at 1 471 899, which once again sees no movement in the recovery rate over the past two weeks as it remains at 95 percent.
As for vaccines, only 231 605 have been administered so far, which places pressure on the NDoH’s outlined target to inoculate 1.5 million frontline healthcare workers by the end of April under phase 1 of the rollout.
The NDoH also confirms that 15 new fatalities have also been reported, with Gauteng accounting for the most of the relatively low number at six. Still, the death toll has unfortunately climbed to 52 663 as a result of COVID-19 in South Africa.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 282 440 | 265 857 | 16 583 | 11 443 |
Eastern Cape | 195 349 | 183 794 | 11 555 | 11 355 |
Northern Cape | 36 105 | 32 710 | 2 859 | 819 |
Free State | 83 006 | 77 731 | 5 275 | 3 638 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 333 748 | 318 060 | 15 688 | 10 167 |
North West | 63 521 | 60 084 | 3 437 | 1 455 |
Mpumalanga | 74 659 | 72 295 | 2 364 | 1 342 |
Gauteng | 413 491 | 400 745 | 12 746 | 10 235 |
Limpopo | 63 112 | 60 623 | 2 489 | 2 209 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 545 431 | 1 471 899 | 73 532 | 52 663 |
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 Önder Örtel on Unsplash]