South Africa “Grappling” With Sharp Increase of Over 8,000 New Covid-19 Cases

South Africa is “grappling” with a sharp increase in COVID-19 cases, according to the Health Department, after recording 8 166 more infections, bringing the total number to 836 764 since the outbreak.

“Today, we wish to reiterate our plea to South Africans to heed the threat of the rising numbers of COVID-19 cases identified,” said Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, on Thursday.

According to the latest statistics, Mkhize said this was clear evidence of an exponential rise in transmission and a cause for serious concern.

This comes after the country breached the 6 000 mark in terms of new cases this week.

The Minister also confirmed that South Africa has officially entered the resurgence driven by a peak in infections in the Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

Meanwhile, since the start of the crisis, 22 747 have lost their lives after 173 more people succumbed to the virus in the last 24 hours.

The Eastern Cape recorded the highest number of latest deaths after 90 patient lost the fight to the Coronavirus. The province is followed by the Western Cape, which reported 52 fatalities, while 13 were recorded in Free State, 10 in KwaZulu-Natal and eight in Gauteng.

The Minister has passed his condolences to the loved ones of the deceased and thanked the health professionals for treating them.

The information is based on the 5 735 470 tests of which 45 207 have been conducted since the last report.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are 68 165 877 confirmed global cases, including 1 557 385 deaths. – SAnews.gov.za