Johannesburg - Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced 195 more deaths owing to Covid-19, as well as 8170 new infections, taking the total confirmed cases over 380 000.
Tuesday nights death toll, was the second highest after 215 deaths were recorded last Thursday (July 16).
This means South Africa’s coronavirus death toll now stands at 5368, with a majority of the deaths coming from the Western Cape (2717 deaths), Gauteng (1042), the Eastern Cape (945), and KwaZulu-Natal (459).
South Africa, with 381 798 cases, has the fifth highest confirmed cases in the world. Only the US, Brazil, India and Russia have more cases in the world.
As of Tuesday, South Africa also had two Cabinet ministers who were admitted to hospital after contracting the virus. The ministers are Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi.
Both were admitted to hospital on the recommendations of their family doctors.
Below we show how Covid-19 has swept through the country in a matter of just four months, with cases rising from 240 infections on March 21 to over 381 000 cases and over 5300 deaths on July 21 - exactly four months later.
Deaths in the same period have risen from 0 on March 21, to 58 on April 21, to 369 on May 21, 1930 by June 21 and 5368 by July 21.
Covid in SA over time
Mkhize said confirmed cases since March now stand at 381798 with just over 208 000 recoveries.
Active cases - those of people who are currently living with the virus - stand at 168 286 across the country.
The 195 new deaths were from five provinces - the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Gauteng and KZN.
Eastern Cape - 74 new deaths
Western Cape - 48
Gauteng - 43
KwaZulu-Natal - 30
South Africa is currently on Day 117 of its lockdown. The country is now on level 3 of an eased lockdown which has allowed millions of workers to return to work.
Over 2.5 million have been tested for the virus. More than 31 000 people were tested in the past 24 hours.
Mkhize said he was sending condolences to those who had lost loved ones and thanked health workers for treating the deceased.
“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased. The number of recoveries currently stands at 208 144 which translates to a recovery rate of 54%,” he said.
IOL