This week, the number of new infections for COVID-19 in South Africa appear to be far less than they have been since the beginning of July. The same, however, cannot be said for the number of fatalities, as the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirms that 596 deaths have been recorded over the past 24 hours.
As such, concerns regarding the delta variant of the virus are indeed warranted, as it is not only proving to be more easily spread within the population, but also proving more fatal.
Consequently, the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa has risen to 67 676.
As for infections, 8 929 have been reported over the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of cases recorded to date to 2 311 232. The same report also notes that the recovery rate has increased to 90.2 percent, but this is more to do with the fact that fewer new infections have been recorded in the past few days.
Looking at the vaccine rollout, the past 24 hours has seen 221 417 people receive jabs, with those in the elderly bracket beginning to get their second dose of Pfizer vaccine and potentially bringing our population immunity numbers up. Those aged 35 to 49 have also begun registering, so hopefully this bracket of society can help push the current vaccination statistics. As of 17:00 on 20th July, 5 558 378 vaccines have been administered across the country.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 367 523 | 322 448 | 31 026 | 14 049 |
| Eastern Cape | 219 696 | 201 497 | 5 814 | 12 385 |
| Northern Cape | 63 725 | 57 660 | 4 483 | 1 582 |
| Free State | 123 795 | 106 353 | 11 910 | 5 532 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 377 395 | 348 711 | 17 556 | 11 128 |
| North West | 118 772 | 91 562 | 24 408 | 2 802 |
| Mpumalanga | 115 180 | 105 758 | 7 828 | 1 594 |
| Gauteng | 822 159 | 760 876 | 45 678 | 15 605 |
| Limpopo | 102 987 | 90 254 | 9 734 | 2 999 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 311 232 | 2 085 119 | 158 437 | 67 676 |
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 Towfiqu barbhuiya on Unsplash]
