Cape Town - Health Minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed 9501 new cases of Covid-19 in South Africa on Tuesday and 339 more deaths.
This brings the cumulative total to 940 212 cases of Covid-19 and 25 246 deaths.
The Eastern Cape confirmed 107 deaths on Tuesday, the Free State 8, Gauteng 30, Kwa-Zulu Natal 45, Limpopo 7 and Western Cape 142.
Our recoveries now stand at 808 241.
A cumulative total of 6 215 728 tests have been conducted with 39 045 tests conducted since the last report, Mkhize said.
Garden Route beaches to remain closed, Western Cape High Court rules
The Western Cape High Court has ruled in favour of the closure of beaches after the DA approached the courts to order that the Garden Route's beaches be reopened.
The high court, however, decided to amend the beach operation times which the DA have managed to get changed from 09:00 to 18:00, to 06:00 to 19:00.
In a statement, DA leader John Steenhuisen said: “While we are disappointed by the ruling in favour of beach closures, we welcome the amended hours of beach operation.”
He said the party was still deeply concerned at the blanket closure of the Garden Route’s beaches over the festive season.
“While we respect the judgement, we understand that this ruling remains a devastating blow to the thousands of small businesses along the Garden Route which are now at serious risk of collapse.
“This problem will not go away once South Africa emerges from the coronavirus pandemic, and we cannot ignore the risk to livelihoods which many lockdown restrictions present,” said Steenhuisen.
The party argued that there was a balance to be struck between saving lives and preserving the nation's economy. Its argument was heavily reliant on the closure of the Garden Route beaches, where towns are heavily dependent on tourism.
IOL and Cape Argus