advertisement
Facebook
X
LinkedIn
WhatsApp
Reddit

COVID-19 in South Africa: 20th April 2021

Vaccinations in the country to fight the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa have been suspended for over a week now, but are set to begin in earnest on 17th May according to Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize. The head of the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirmed as much earlier this week during a visit to the Western Cape to assess the province’s readiness for the aforementioned date.

“The mass vaccination campaign, due to begin officially on 17 May 2021, is soon upon us and represents hope for our nation after the social, economic and psychological carnage left by COVID-19. It is for this reason that I have embarked on a nationwide tour to assess the readiness of provinces to rollout the vaccines at the anticipated rate that will be required to achieve population immunity by the first quarter in 2022,” explained Mkhize.

“I have now completed three provincial visits and, so far, feel satisfied that Gauteng, Eastern Cape and Western Cape understand the requirements and have the inclination to rise to the occasion,” he added.

The minister also thanked the estimated 343 420 senior citizens who had already registered on the EVDS system for the next phase of the rollout.

Whether the projected targets will be reached on the newly truncated rollout timeline remains to be seen, but the fact that next month will see efforts start up again in earnest is pleasing news nonetheless. 

Looking at the latest numbers for COVID-19 in South Africa, 744 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections recorded to date now at 1 567 513. The recovery rate remains at 95 percent, with 1 490 876 recoveries recorded too.

Unfortunately 21 new fatalities have also been reported over the past 24 hours, pushing the death toll to date to 53 757.

The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:

Provinces Confirmed Cases Recoveries Active cases Deaths
Western Cape 285 308 268 803 16 505 11 531
Eastern Cape 195 862 184 163 11 699 11 454
Northern Cape 38 058 33 874 2 859 858
Free State 86 070 79 993 6 077 3 785
KwaZulu-Natal 335 779 319 874 15 905 10 336
North West 65 918 61 756 4 162 1 632
Mpumalanga 77 098 74 804 2 294 1 385
Gauteng 419 823 406 523 13 300 10 525
Limpopo 63 597 61 086 2 511 2 251
Unknown 0
TOTAL 1 567 513 1 490 876 76 637 53 757

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:

[Image – Photo by Prasesh Shiwakoti (Lomash) on Unsplash]

advertisement

About Author

advertisement

Related News

advertisement