[ad_1]
By Lou-Anne Daniels 
7h ago
Johannesburg – The total number of Covid-19 infections in South Africa now stands at 12,739, with 238 deaths.
The Western Cape, with a total of 7,235 confirmed infections, represents 56.8 percent of the confirmed cases in the country. The province is also responsible for 12 of the 19 Covid-19-related deaths recorded in the past 24 hours.
Gauteng has the second highest number of confirmed cases with 2,135 infections, and the Eastern Cape was third with 1,569.
To date, a total of 403,018 tests have been conducted for the new coronavirus, with 16,666 tests conducted in the last 24 hours.
Here’s a look at the breakdown by province:
| PROVINCE | NEW CASES | TOTAL CASES | LAST DEATHS | % OF THE TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| west cape | 522 | 7235 | 12 | 56.8 |
| Gauteng | 61 | 2135 | 0 0 | 16.8 |
| Eastern Cape | 35 | 1569 | 7 7 | 12.3 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 31 | 1444 | 0 0 | 11.3 |
| Free State | 7 7 | 145 | 0 0 | 1.1 |
| Mpumalanga | one | 67 | 0 0 | 0.5 |
| northwest | 6 6 | 58 | 0 0 | 0.5 |
| Limpopo | one | 55 | 0 0 | 0.4 0.4 |
| North Cape | one | 31 | 0 0 | 0.2 0.2 |
| TOTAL | 665 | 12 739 | 19 | 100.0 |
“Nearly 10 million people have been screened for symptoms of the virus, and testing in the public and private sectors has increased exponentially, with 270,000 more tests conducted in this period than originally anticipated,” Mkhize said in a statement on Thursday.
“The government has also been working hard to increase the number of beds in hospitals across the country in preparation for an influx of patients suffering from Covid-19 symptoms.”
Table supplied by the Department of Health
Table supplied by the Department of Health
Commenting on President Cyril Ramaphosa’s announcement that most of South Africa can expect to enter a level 3 blockade starting in late May, Mkhize said that levels 5 and 4 of the blockade had given the government time to strengthen the health system, but emphasized that this had not been without its challenges.
“In some cases, emerging data on the number of cases in some provinces have been misaligned and sometimes inaccurate. Covid-19 hotspots have emerged in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, with more than half the country’s cases from the two provinces, “Mkhize said. said.
“Concentrated cluster outbreaks in and around Cape Town are driving the pandemic in these regions and require specific efforts to trace and trace contacts in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape.”
* For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak, visit the IOL #Coronavirus special page.
** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, call the 24-hour hotline at 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za
MESS
[ad_2]
