South Africa has 2028 confirmed cases of Coronavirus (COVID-19), with 25 deaths.
“The total number of COVID-19 tests conducted to date is 75 053,” Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize said in a statement on Saturday.
COVID-19 claims a life in Western Cape
The latest death reported was of a 61-year-old man in the Western Cape.
“His underlying medical conditions included diabetes, hypertension and obesity. We convey our condolences to the family of the deceased and also appreciated the health workers that treated the deceased patient,” Mkhize said.
On Saturday, there were 25 more cases of virus compared to Easter Friday’s 2003 confirmed cases. The Minister reported one additional death to the 24 deaths announced on Easter Friday.
Kwa-Zulu Natal leads with the most deaths related to COVID-19
In a series of tweets following the updated figures, Minister Mkhize said KwaZulu-Natal has a high death toll with more than six patients having died at one hospital.
“We need to get into why this is so. We have now decided the hospital needs to be closed-down and an investigation needs to be launched.”
He said most of the confirmed cases were in the metros including Cape Town in Western Cape, Johannesburg in Gauteng, Durban in KwaZulu-Natal and Mangaung in the Free State.
South Africa’s biggest weapon is social distancing
He added that by reducing large gathering such as church services and football games helps to reduce the spread of the virus.
“The number of new infections is not increasing as much as it would’ve been. The borders have also been closed preventing new imported infections.”
The Minister said the regular washing of hands, social distancing and the wearing of mask needs to continue after the conclusion of the national lockdown.
This as the 21-day nationwide lockdown to curb the spread of COVID-19 has been extended by a further two weeks until the end of April. –
