Johannesburg - The total Covid-19 infections in South Africa now stands at 12 739, with 238 deaths.
The Western Cape, with a total of 7 235 confirmed infections, accounts for 56.8 percent of the confirmed cases in the country. The province is also responsible for 12 of the 19 Covid-19 related deaths recorded over the past 24 hours.
Gauteng has the second-highest number of confirmed cases with 2 135 infections, and the Eastern Cape was third at 1 569.
A total of 403 018 tests have been conducted for the novel coronavirus to date, with 16 666 tests done in the past 24 hours.
Here is a look at the breakdown per province:
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PROVINCE
NEW CASES
TOTAL CASES
LATEST DEATHS
% OF TOTAL
Western Cape
522
7235
12
56.8
Gauteng
61
2135
0
16.8
Eastern Cape
35
1569
7
12.3
KwaZulu-Natal
31
1444
0
11.3
Free State
7
145
0
1.1
Mpumalanga
1
67
0
0.5
North West
6
58
0
0.5
Limpopo
1
55
0
0.4
Northern Cape
1
31
0
0.2
TOTAL
665
12 739
19
100.0
"Close to 10 million people have been screened for symptoms of the virus and testing in the public and private sector has been ramped up exponentially, with 270 000 more tests being conducted in this period than initially planned for," Mkhize said in a statement on Thursday.
"Government has also worked fervently to increase the number of beds in hospitals across the country in preparation for an influx of patients suffering from Covid-19 symptoms."
Table supplied by the Department of Health
Table supplied by the Department of Health
Commenting on President Cyril Ramaphosa's announcement that most of South Africa can expect to ease into a level 3 lockdown from the end of May, Mkhize said that levels 5 and 4 of the lockdown had allowed government time to strengthen the healthcare system, but he stressed that this had not been without its challenges.
"In some instances, data emerging on case numbers in some provinces has been misaligned and sometimes inaccurate. Covid-19 hot spots have emerged in the Eastern Cape and Western Cape, with more than half the country’s cases emanating from the two provinces," Mkhize said.
"Cluster outbreaks concentrated in and around Cape Town are driving the pandemic in these regions and require targeted efforts to track and trace contacts in Western Cape and Eastern Cape."
* For the latest on the Covid-19 outbreak, visit IOL's special #Coronavirus page.
** If you think you have been exposed to the Covid-19 virus, call the 24-hour hotline on 0800 029 999 or visit sacoronavirus.co.za
IOL
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