South Africa remains the most coronavirus-affected country on the African continent, with 19 137 COVID-19 cases and deaths rising by 30 to 369 fatalities.
18 572 COVID-19 tests have been conducted in the past 24 hours while 1 134 patients have tested positive and fatalities rising to 369.
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In the video below, the number of COIVD-19 cases in SA rise to 19 137:
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize briefed the media shortly after receiving donations of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and other medical equipment from the US embassy and other donors in Pretoria.
Minister Mkhize expressed gratitude for the donation of medical equipment and PPEs to the tune of millions, saying they will come handy in the fight against COVID-19.
“As announced by President Ramaphosa, the United States government has also generously made a donation of 1 000 ventilators. I am very pleased to announce that 50 of these have arrived in South Africa last week and are awaiting installation at our public health facilities.”
There are projections estimating 40 000 COVID-19 related deaths by November.
Dr Mkhize says those reports are not cast in stone. “The more we move on with our pandemic, the more we get more accurate data, the more the models are closer to being helpful to us.”
Community health workers
Dr Mkhize planned on rolling out community health workers to do home visits to ensure that patients with co-morbidities avoid hospital visits.
He also shied away from deliberating on the recent spat with Professor Glenda Gray who discredited government’s efforts against the pandemic as being thumb-sucked and unscientific.
The minister emphasised that while fighting COVID-19, it is important not to neglect the fight against HIV and TB as these could make patients more vulnerable to COVID-19.
Dr Mkhize briefs the media on the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths:
Reporting by Ofentse Setimo
