The number of confirmed coronavirus cases has risen to 274. This after 34 new cases were confirmed on Sunday evening. The Health Ministry released the latest figures shortly after the Presidency announced that President Cyril Ramaphosa’s expected address to the nation on the pandemic has been postponed to Monday.
A statement from the health Ministry confirmed the news.
#CoronaVirusUpdate There 34 new cases that have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 bringing the total number of #COVID19 cases to 274. #CorinaVirusInSA🇿🇦 pic.twitter.com/AMIvMNpPwB
— South African Government (@GovernmentZA) March 22, 2020
On Saturday, the number of confirmed cases was 240 according to the Department of Health. The Eastern Cape had recorded its first case of the virus, a 28-year-old female who had travelled to Germany.
On Friday, Minister of Health Mkhize said it was important for South Africans to mobilise against the virus.
Everybody is at risk
Mkhize says everybody is at risk of contracting the coronavirus.
“In any community, 60 t0 70% of the community will be affected by the virus. We can’t hide that. So, I say to the religious leaders, most of us, we are going to have this virus. South Africa, most of us will have this virus. It doesn’t mean that then it’s going to be a sever disease to all of us. It will be severe to the 20%. Let’s make sure that at each and every time the 20% is small, so that we don’t have the strain of having to worry about opening new ventilators and all of those things.”
He says during such times it is important to work together.
“The reality for us is that we need to be working together to deal with this issue and as you will be aware, as well, the president has gone all out to call for a lot of stringent measures declaring a state of national disaster, and also got a lot of stakeholders, leaders to come together and unite in an effort to fight this virus.”
Below is the statement from the Department of Health:
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