Last night President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the nation for one of his now infamous family meetings. During the address, he explained that the country would be moving to an adjusted level 2 lockdown in a bid to cope with the rising number of cases for COVID-19 in South Africa. While four provinces are said to be in the midst of a third wave, Ramaphosa did not confirm that the entire country is in one, having staved it off for now.
The adjusted lockdown measures will see the curfew change to 23:00 in the evening until 04:00 in the morning, with restrictions being placed on the number of people for indoor and outdoor gatherings. The president cited the latter as super spreader events that have led to the recent increase in cases, and as we enter the Winter months, ensuring we flatten the curve while administering vaccines is government’s key priority at this stage.
Speaking of vaccines, the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirms that 968 319 vaccines have been administered to date, but crucially notes that 488 551 of these are the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine under the second phase of the Sisonke Protocol rollout.
Looking at the other key figures from the report, 3 755 new cases have been reported over the past 24 hours as the total number of infections recorded to date now sits at 1 662 825. The recovery rate is at 93.6 percent as 1 556 874 recoveries have been recorded to date.
Unfortunately 76 new fatalities have been recored too, with the North West accounting for the most at 44. This sees the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rise to 56 439.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 293 592 | 278 223 | 1 996 | 11 809 |
| Eastern Cape | 197 759 | 185 257 | 210 | 11 657 |
| Northern Cape | 50 188 | 41 075 | 3 554 | 1 101 |
| Free State | 101 074 | 88 614 | 2 398 | 4 329 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 339 811 | 325 081 | 5 041 | 10 509 |
| North West | 75 847 | 67 386 | 2 881 | 1 933 |
| Mpumalanga | 82 426 | 79 331 | 991 | 1 448 |
| Gauteng | 456 764 | 429 685 | 3 231 | 11 207 |
| Limpopo | 65 364 | 62 222 | 295 | 2 446 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 1 662 825 | 1 556 874 | 20 597 | 56 439 |
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 Dimitri Karastelev on Unsplash]
