Cape Town – A total of 119 more Covid-19-related deaths have been reported.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Tuesday 36 people have died in the Eastern Cape, 22 in the Free State, 42 in Gauteng, seven in KwaZulu-Natal, one in Mpumalanga and 11 in the Western Cape.
This brings the total reported deaths to 20 432. Of the 119 deaths, seven reportedly occurred in the past 48 hours: three in the Free State and four in the Western Cape, Mkhize said.
As of today, the cumulative number of detected Covid-19 cases is 754 256, with 1 987 new cases identified since the last report.
The number of recoveries now stand at 696 820, which translates to a recovery rate of 92.4%. The cumulative number of tests conducted to date is 5 160 877, with 17 930 new tests conducted since the last report.
Western Cape health authorities are turning their attention to the Garden Route after a spike in Covid-19 infections in towns in the region has resulted in an increase in hospitalisations.
On Tuesday, Premier Alan Winde declared the Garden Route a hotspot and urged residents and visitors in towns such as George, Knysna and Mossel Bay to stop the surge of infections by taking Covid-19 precautions.
Meanwhile, Mkhize says staff exhaustion is an issue of major concern.
’’It is not necessarily the workload, but the emotional and mental well being too. The worry of thinking you may infect you’re loved ones when returning home,“ he posted on Twitter.
The Eastern Cape government has strongly condemned a song by protesting health workers aimed at Mkhize, which apparently carried a “tribalistic message'’.
Angry community health workers in the Eastern Cape braved wintry weather to picket outside Livingstone Hospital where Mkhize was delivering a talk.
According to the Herald, protesting community health workers sang ’’uyinkwenkwe uMkhize makoluswe’’, which translates to ’’Mkhize is an uncircumcised boy, he must be circumcised’’.
IOL