Johannesburg - In the space of two weeks, confirmed Covid-19 cases and related deaths have tripled in the Western Cape province.
Two weeks ago, on May 7, the province had 3 994 confirmed cases and 79 deaths. Two weeks later, the province had 12 888 cases and 257 deaths, with daily infections well above 700 cases on a daily basis in the past week.
The Eastern Cape has the second fastest infection rate, and it had seen 929 cases and 18 deaths two weeks ago, more than double the cases at 2451, and the deaths had almost tripled, to 53.
From Friday’s 988 new cases, 88% of the new infections were from the Western and Eastern Cape provinces.
The deaths came from the Western Cape, 22, Eastern Cape, 3, Gauteng, 2, and KZN, 1.
LATEST BREAKDOWN
______________
New Deaths__
New Cases__
Total Deaths__
Total Cases__
South Africa
28
988
397
20125
Western Cape
22
735
257
12888
Gauteng
2
68
27
2521
Eastern Cape
3
135
53
2459
KZN
1
42
46
1735
Free State
0
1
6
185
Limpopo
0
0
3
120
Mpumalanga
0
3
0
98
North West
0
3
1
80
Northern Cape
0
2
1
39
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said 543 000 tests had been conducted since March, and just under 18000 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours.
He expressed his condolences to the 28 people who had lost their lives, but also said the country now had just over 10 000 Covid-19 recoveries.
Since Monday, 102 people have now been killed by the coronavirus in the Western Cape and Eastern Cape provinces. In the rest of the country, in the same period, 34 people have died.
This means, since Monday, 136 people have been killed by the virus, with the youngest being a premature newborn baby whose mother had been infected by the virus.
The country is currently in Day 57 of its national lockdown, which was instituted to curb the spread of the virus.
The country is expected to ease into level 3 lockdown in June.