Covid-19 in SA: 5 668 new cases, 119 related deaths

CAPE TOWN: South Africa recorded 5 668 new Covid -19 cases, conducted nearly 40 500 tests and suffered 119 more deaths.

“Today the institute reports 5 668 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 534 131,” South Africa’s National Insitute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Tuesday.

40 487 tests being conducted, coupled with Tuesday’s new cases, represents a positivity rate of 14%.

Nearly 51% of Tuesday’s Covid-19 testing occurred within the private sector, carrying on the overall pattern during the pandemic of the private sector conducting more tests than the public sector.

South Africa’s Covid-19 testing, and therefore new cases, more than doubled on Tuesday compared to Monday.

On Monday, 2 409 cases were recorded and 17 197 tests were conducted.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 119 Covid-19-related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 92 649 to date,” the NICD stated.

The majority of South Africa’s new cases derive from mainly KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday, followed by Gauteng and then the Western Cape.

South Africa’s hospitals experienced an increase of 255 admissions, bringing the total patients currently admitted across both the private and public sector to 8 535.

However, the total number of hospital admissions on Tuesday (8 535) is less than the total number of admissions on Monday (8 783).