Cape Town – The cumulative number of detected Covid-19-related cases has risen to 723 682, with 1 912 new cases (down from 2 056 yesterday) identified since the last report.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Friday 66 more Covid-19-related deaths were recorded: 21 in the Eastern Cape, 2 in Gauteng, 7 in the Free State, 8 in KwaZulu-Natal, 2 in Mpumalanga, 18 in North West, 4 in the Northern Cape and 4 in the Western Cape.
This brings the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 19 230. The number of recoveries now stand at 653 052, which translates to a recovery rate of 90%.
Of the 66 deaths reported today, 10 were reported to have occurred in the past 24-48 hours: 1 in the Eastern Cape, 3 in the Free State, 2 from Gauteng, and 4 in the Western Cape.
The cumulative number of tests conducted to date is 4 800 823, with 23 214 new tests conducted since the last report.
Meanwhile, European Union Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides said on Friday that EU countries should be ready to impose restrictions on people's lives to battle the spread of the new coronavirus throughout the continent.
“We need to pull through this, where needed, with restrictions on everyday life to break the chain of transmission," she told a video conference of EU health ministers.
France and Germany, the bloc's largest countries, announced new lockdowns this week as infections in the continent passed the 10 million-case milestone and hospitals and intensive care units fill up again with Covid-19 patients.<
Bars, restaurants, sports and cultural events have been restricted or closed in several other European countries.
New Covid-19 cases in England increased by around 51 900 each day last week, a steep increase on the 35 200 daily cases the week before, a survey by the Office for National Statistics said on Friday.
The ONS Infection Survey estimated 568 100 people had Covid-19 infections between 17 to 23 October, up from 433 300 the week before.
India saw a daily spurt of 48 648 coronavirus infections, taking its tally to 8.09 million, health ministry data showed on Friday.
India is the world's second worst affected country, after the United States, which has nearly 9 million infections and hit a daily record of more than 91 000 cases on Thursday.
IOL