This week is turning into one of the most chaotic in recent memory for the country as continued riots, looting and wanton destruction of property have created a general atmosphere of fear. Exacerbating matters is the ongoing fight against COVID-19 in South Africa, which in the past 24 hours has seen one of the largest amount of daily recorded deaths as a result of the virus.
There have been 633 new fatalities to be precise, with the National Department of Health’s (NDoH) latest report confirming that the death toll has now risen to 65 142.
The department also notes that 12 537 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours as the total number of infections recoded so far climbs to 2 219 316 and over 13.98 million tests have been conducted to date. The recovery rate has also increased to 88.4 percent, but this is more to do with the past 24 hours recording less new cases than have been over the past couple of weeks.
As for the vaccine rollout, as of 17:00 on 13th July, 4 535 222 vaccines have been administered. While the number of people receiving jabs has increased of late, it remains to be seen what impact the current unrest and fear will have on people’s willingness to go to vaccination sites.
Either way, as the country seemingly grapples with a myriad of issues at the moment, our inoculation efforts are being scuppered by those who have no regard for their fellow South Africans. As such, the coming days will prove pivotal for the country.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 351 096 | 308 781 | 28 856 | 13 459 |
| Eastern Cape | 214 871 | 197 708 | 5 009 | 12 154 |
| Northern Cape | 62 042 | 56 049 | 4 527 | 1 466 |
| Free State | 120 786 | 103 397 | 11 933 | 5 456 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 372 406 | 338 686 | 22 821 | 10 899 |
| North West | 111 493 | 84 619 | 24 290 | 2 584 |
| Mpumalanga | 108 114 | 97 973 | 8 590 | 1 551 |
| Gauteng | 784 148 | 694 272 | 75 188 | 14 688 |
| Limpopo | 94 360 | 79 963 | 11 512 | 2 885 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 219 316 | 1 961 448 | 192 726 | 65 142 |
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 Pawel Janiak on Unsplash]
