Johannesburg - Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced 572 more deaths owing to Covid-19, as well as 13150 new infections, taking the total confirmed cases just under 400000.
Wednesday night’s death toll, was South Africa's most deadly day at the hands of the Covid-19. The previous highest daily death toll was 215 deaths, which was recorded last Thursday (July 16).
This means South Africa’s coronavirus death toll now stands at 5940, with a majority of the deaths coming from the Western Cape (2752 deaths), the Eastern Cape (1345), Gauteng (1156), and KwaZulu-Natal (477).
South Africa, with 394 948 cases, has the fifth highest confirmed cases in the world. Only the US, Brazil, India and Russia have more cases in the world.
South Africa also had two Cabinet ministers who were admitted to hospital after contracting the virus. The ministers are Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi.
Both were admitted to hospital on the recommendations of their family doctors.
In terms of premiers, Western Cape Premier Alan Winde, North West Premier Jobs Mokgoro and Gauteng Premier David Makhura have all tested positive for the coronavirus and are currently recovering at home.
The Covid-19 has swept through the country in a matter of just four months, with cases rising from 240 infections on March 21 to over 381 000 cases and over 5300 deaths on July 21 - exactly four months later.
Deaths in the same period have risen from 0 on March 21 to 58 on April 21, to 369 on May 21, 1930 by June 21 and 5368 by July 21.
Mkhize said confirmed cases since March now stand at just under 400 000 with just over 229 175 recoveries.
South Africa is currently on Day 118 of its lockdown. The country is now on level 3 of an eased lockdown which has allowed millions of workers to return to work.
On Wednesday, the government created more confusion on its alcohol and tobacco stance, saying both products would not be for sale until the end of the lockdown. The government later apologised and rescinded the message, suggesting it could be allowed under an eased alert level of the lockdown.
Over 2.5 million have been tested for the virus. More than 48 000 people were tested in the past 24 hours.
Mkhize said he was sending condolences to those who had lost loved ones and thanked health workers for treating the deceased.
“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased. The number of recoveries currently stands at 229 175 which translates to a recovery rate of 58%,” he said.
IOL