114 more people succumb to COVID-19

South Africa reported 114 new COVID-19 related deaths on Tuesday, bringing the death toll to 14 263 since the outbreak in March.

Of the new additional fatalities, 39 are from Gauteng, 20 from the Western Cape, 18 from the North West, 13 from KwaZulu-Natal, 10 from Mpumalanga and seven from the Eastern Cape and Free State, respectively.

In addition, there are now 628 259 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country after 1 218 new cases were identified.

Gauteng has 210 518 cases, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 113 237, Western Cape 106 114 and Eastern Cape 86 217.

The Free State has 38 125 cases, North West 25 390, Mpumalanga 24 470, Limpopo 13 301 and Northern Cape 10 837.

Fifty remain unallocated.

Meanwhile, the recovery rate now stands at 87% after 549 993 people recuperated.

The data is based on the 3 705 408 test conducted, 11 687 of which were conducted in the last 24 hours.

Globally, there have been 25 327 098 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 848 255 deaths reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO).

According to WHO, several countries in Africa that were previous COVID-19 hotspots have recorded a reduction in case incidence, including Ghana, Kenya, Gabon and Madagascar.

“While the observed declining trends are encouraging, the figures should be interpreted cautiously, as they may be affected by many factors, including the current testing capacity and strategy, and delays in reporting,” WHO explained.

The agency said South Africa has the fifth-highest number of COVID-19 infections globally and the highest number in Africa.

“However, there has been a marked decline in new cases since they peaked on 25 July at 13 944 cases, and the downward trend has continued this week, with new cases falling by 34%. As a result, government has eased public health and social measures, while reminding the public to remain vigilant,” WHO said.