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Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says the number of cases detected across the country continues to decline.
- The Department of Health said the rise of Covid-19 has ended in South Africa.
- However, he reported 188 more Covid-19-related deaths, but said this is due to reporting delays and confirmation of post-mortem swabs.
- The country is moving towards preventing a second wave.
The Health Department reported 188 more deaths related to Covid-19 as it declared the end of the increase, but explained that the higher number is due to a delay in data and verification of post-mortem swabs.
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“There has been a two-week delay in reporting the deaths in Free State, as the province collected data from various districts and verified it with data from home affairs,” a statement from Health Minister Zweli said on Monday. Mkhize.
“This is part of efforts to improve data quality by aligning facility information with home affairs statistics. Post-mortem swab data also had to be collected and verified.”
This was in line with the recommendations of the SA Medical Research Council and the data is considered current.
The latest update indicates that there were three deaths in the Eastern Cape, one in KwaZulu-Natal, two in Gauteng, four in the Western Cape, and 178 in the Free State.
MAC hardened
This brings the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 16,586 out of 671,669 confirmed cases, with 903 new cases detected.
The recoveries are 604,478, which translates into a recovery rate of 90%.
Mkhize said South Africa was considered to have passed the increase in cases.
“We have now confirmed, with both the NICD and the World Health Organization surge reports, that we have overcome the surge and that our epidiomelological curve has shown a plateau for several weeks.
“Therefore, based on the behavior of the South African pandemic, we have reassessed our national response and identified new challenges that require new approaches.”
He said that the Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) on Covid-19 was not dissolved, but rather strengthened to prevent the transmission of the virus and change in behavior to avoid a second wave.
It will retain many of the experts from the original clinical-biomedical MAC, including Senior Lecturer Salim Abdool Karim, Professor Marc Mendelson, Professor Sthembiso Mkhize, Professor Rudo Mathivha and Professor Nombulelo Magula, among others.
“On behalf of the nation, the government thanks all the members who have served and continue to serve on all Ministerial Advisory Committees, the captains who have guided us through the Covid storm and kept us afloat.”
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