Durban - A total of 1050 new Covid-19 cases have been reported in South Africa, taking the country's cumulative caseload count to 706 304.
The Health Ministry said the total number of tests conducted to date is 4 581 346 with 15 366 new tests conducted since the last report.
"Regrettably, we report 164 Covid-19-related deaths: 46 from Eastern Cape, 41 from the Free State, 52 from Gauteng, one from Mpumalanga, two from Northern Cape, eight from Western Cape, nine from KwaZulu Natal, and five from Limpopo. This brings the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 18 656," the ministry said.
The country's recovery rate remains at 90% with 639 568 people have contracted and recovered from the virus.
According to the World Health Organization's Weekly Epidemiological Update the incidence of new Covid-19 cases has continued to accelerate, while the incidence of new deaths has remained relatively stable.
The update revealed that as of 18 October, over 40 million cases and 1.1 million deaths have been reported globally, with over 2.4 million new cases and 36 000 new deaths reported over the past week.
The update further found that the European region has continued to report a rapid increase in cases and deaths, with over 927 000 new cases reported this past week – a 25% weekly increase in cases compared to the previous week – contributing 38% of all new cases reported worldwide.
Similarly, the number of deaths continues to climb with a 29% increase from last week. Increases, although more gradual, were also observed in the African, Eastern-Mediterranean and Western Pacific Regions.
The update found that declines continued to be reported in the region of the Americas and the South-East Asia Region; although the incidence of new infections remains high, and collectively these two regions contribute over half of new cases and deaths observed globally. The countries reporting the highest number of cases in the past week remain the same as last week: India, the United States of America, France, Brazil and the United Kingdom.
IOL