Johannesburg – Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced 192 more deaths owing to Covid-19, as well as 10134 new infections, taking the total confirmed cases over 215 000 cases since March.
This means South Africa’s coronavirus death toll now stands at 3502, with a majority of the deaths coming from the Western Cape (2145 deaths), the Eastern Cape (564), Gauteng (478) and KwaZulu-Natal (205).
The almost 200 deaths and the 10 000 new cases were the most the country has seen since Covid-19 arrived in the country in March.
The more than 10 000 new infections reported on Tuesday night also mean South Africa had the fourth most new cases in the world on Tuesday – with only the USA, Brazil and India recording morre cases.
The 192 new deaths also mean the country had the seventh most new deaths on Tuesday, with only Brazil, USA, Mexico, India, Iran and Russia recording more deaths on the same day.
South Africa now has the 14th most Covid-19 cases in the world.
Below we show how Covid-19 has swept through the country in a matter of just four months, with cases rising from two infections on March 7 to over 215 000 cases on July 7 – exactly four months later.
Deaths in the same period have risen from 0 on March 7, to 13 on April 7, to 161 on May 7, 998 by June 7 and 3502 by July 7.
Covid in SA over time
| ____________ | March 7__ | April 7___ | May 7__ | June 7__ | July 7__ | |
| Infections | 2 | 1749 | 8232 | 48285 | 215855 | |
| Deaths | 0 | 13 | 161 | 998 | 3502 | |
| Recoveries | 0 | No Data | 3153 | 24364 | 102299 | |
| Active | 2 | 1641 | 4918 | 22923 | 110054 | |
Mkhize announced the latest statistics on the stroke of midnight on Tuesday night. He said confirmed cases since March now stand at 215 855, with just over 102 000 recoveries.
Active cases – those of people who are currently living with the virus – stand at 110 054 across the country, with just a little under half of the known cases coming from Gauteng, which has just over 51 000 people living with the virus.
Mkhize said the 192 deaths were from five provinces – Gauteng, the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KZN and Limpopo.
In Gauteng, there were 75 new deaths – the most in the country on the day along with the most new infections.
Mkhize said the new deaths were from the following provinces:
- Gauteng, 75 deaths
- Western Cape, 44
- Eastern Cape, 36
- KZN, 22
- Limpopo, 15
South Africa is currently on Day 104 of its lockdown. The country is now on level 3 of an eased lockdown which has allowed millions of workers to return to work.
Over 1.9 million have been tested for the virus. More than 43 000 people were tested in the past 24 hours.
The country expects its Covid-19 peak between July and August, with Gauteng currently the province with the most active cases despite the Western Cape having the most infections and death.
BREAKDOWN
| _______________ | Infections | Deaths | Recoveries | Active | |
| South Africa | 215855 | 3502 | 102299 | 110054 | |
| Western Cape | 72156 | 2145 | 52175 | 17836 | |
| Gauteng | 71488 | 478 | 19779 | 51231 | |
| Eastern Cape | 40401 | 564 | 22022 | 17815 | |
| KZN | 16743 | 205 | 4890 | 11648 | |
| North West | 6842 | 36 | 1335 | 5471 | |
| Free State | 3034 | 19 | 528 | 2487 | |
| Mpumalanga | 2353 | 7 | 668 | 1678 | |
| Limpopo | 1950 | 42 | 665 | 1243 | |
| Northern Cape | 888 | 6 | 237 | 645 |
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 is 102 299, which translates to a recovery rate of 47,4%,” he said.
