As at today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 6336.
The total number of tests conducted to date is 230 686, of which 13 164 were done in the last 24 hours. This is the highest number of tests done in a 24 hour cycle to date.
The Provincial Breakdown is as follows:
Province Cases
Eastern Cape 732
Free State 121
Gauteng 1598
KwaZulu Natal 1051
Limpopo 36
Mpumalanga 40
North West 35
Northen Cape 23
Western Cape 2700
Total 6336
Reported Deaths, Recoveries and Comments:
Regrettably, we are saddened to report a further 7 COVID-19 related deaths from the Western Cape and Free State. This brings the total number of deaths to 123 We wish to express our condolences to the families of the deceased and salute the health care workers who treated the deceased patients.
We are however pleased to report that the number of recoveries now stands at 2549
Below is the Provincial Breakdown of Deaths and Recoveries
We have also begun to study the deaths to begin to elucidate patterns and areas of high risk. We have observed the following:
Distribution of Deaths by Gender:
Province - Deaths - Recoveries
Eastern Cape 13 - 275
Free State 6 - 96
Gauteng 12 - 948
KwaZulu Natal 34 - 375
Limpopo 2 - 25
Mpumalanga 0 - 18
North West 0 - 20
Northen Cape 0 - 13
Western Cape 56 - 779
Total 123 - 2549
Male (%) - Female (%) - Total
71 (58%) - 52 (42%) - 123
Distribution of Deaths by Age:
Age - Deaths (%)
0-9 - 0 (0%)
10-19 - 0 (0%)
20-29 - 1 (0.8%)
30-39 - 6 (4.9%)
40-49 - 19 (15.5%)
50-59 - 23 (18.7%)
60-69 - 30 (24.4%)
70-79 - 28 (22.7%)
80-89 - 14 (11.4%)
90-99- 2 ( 1.6%)
123 (100)
The median age of patients who died was 64 .
Co-morbidities
We have looked at the data for patients who have been hospitalized and found that, consistent with evidence emerging worldwide, hypertension, diabetes and cardiac disease are the three most common co-morbidities associated with serious illness from COVID-19.
Other co-morbidities that were seen amongst COVID-19 admitted patients were chronic pulmonary disease, asthma, chronic renal disease, malignancy, HIV, active and past tuberculosis.
I would therefore like to urge our millions of South Africans who are over 63 years of age and those who live with these conditions to take extra precaution as we ease the lockdown.
I would also like to urge all South Africans to continue to stay at home as far as possible, only venturing out to perform essential tasks as we move through the stages of the gradual lifting of lockdown.
