The number of confirmed coronavirus cases at the Correctional Services Department has increased to 78. The new cases mostly come from the East London Correctional Centre and includes 53 inmates and 25 officials.
On Monday, the Port-Elizabeth-based St Albans Correctional Centre and the department’s head offices in Pretoria each registered one positive case of the virus.
All the figures are part of the 78. The department’s spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo has appealed to all those who have been in contact with people who have tested positive for the virus to inform the department.
“As the department, we have now gone through the second layer of disaster management recovery strategy, which is containment and treatment in order to ensure that we disinfect the East London Correctional Facility and that we do more screening. In terms of officials, their movements and their activities that they attend to, we will continue to work closer with other stakeholders in order to ensure that any further spread of the virus is curbed.”
The Eastern Cape has 174 coronavirus cases.
Earlier, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced that the number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country has risen to 2 415 up from Monday’s 2 272.
Latest stats for COVID-19 below:
He made the announcement at the O.R. Tambo International Airport in Johannesburg where China donated personal protective equipment to South Africa.
Gauteng has 909 cases, followed by Western Cape with 643 cases.
South Africa has so far conducted more than 87 000 coronavirus tests.
“We believe we are now seeing a lot more of the testing that is coming from the public sector, ” said Mkhize.
