SA’s COVID-19 cases jump to 683 242

South Africa now has 683 242 COVID-19 cases after 1 027 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus on Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the death toll has increased by 87 pushing the tally to 17 103.

Of the latest fatalities, 35 are from KwaZulu-Natal, 28 from Gauteng, 15 from the Western Cape, five from the North West and four from the Eastern Cape.

Gauteng remains the epicentre with 221 320 confirmed cases since the outbreak, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 119 769, Western Cape 111 596 and the Eastern Cape with 89 991.

Free State has 48 865 cases, North West 30 103, Mpumalanga 27 718, Northern Cape 18 000 and Limpopo 15 880.

The data is based on the 4 294 931 tests of which 14 591 were performed in the last 24 hours.

Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, once again expressed his gratitude towards health professionals for the work they have done throughout the pandemic. The Minister said this during a South African Medical Association webinar.

“Thank you for patiently going out there to give the services to our people. We salute you all for the good work that has been done,” he said.

Mkhize reiterated that the numbers of deaths have slowed down.

Second wave

“We moved to level 1 with less explosion. It’s possible the second surge can still come. You have played an important part in us achieving a recovery rate of 90%.”

He warned that the issue of the second wave of infections cannot be ruled out.

The World Health Organisation’s (WHO) surge team is still working in the different provinces.

It will continue to assist in surveillance for government to respond much quicker should the number of increased infections strike again.

“About vaccines, we should work together as a global effort to make vaccines more accessible and affordable to everyone. There is a whole global awareness for the need to work together for a vaccine,” said the Minister.

Globally, there have been 35 347 404 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1 039 406 deaths reported to the WHO.