South Africa has continued to be the epicentre of the coronavirus (COVID-19) in African becoming the first African country to surpass the 100 000 mark in the number of confirmed cases.
According to the latest figures released by the Department of Health on Monday evening, the country has a total of 101 590 confirmed cases.
More than 300 000 cases have been confirmed in Africa and South African accounts for more than 100 000 of those.
The Western Cape continues to be the province with the most number of infections accounting to more than 50% of the total number of cases at 52 554, followed by Gauteng with 22 341 cases and the Eastern Cape at 16,6% with 16 895.
The country has also recorded a further 61 coronavirus-related deaths, bringing the death toll to 1 991, just nine shy of 2000, while the Western Cape accounts for 1 458 followed by the Eastern Cape at with 303 deaths. The country’s mortality rate is 2%.
The number of recoveries is at 53 444, which translate to a recovery rate of 52,6%.
South Africa reported its biggest increase in confirmed COVID-19 cases this weekend, reaching over 9 500 new infections as cases spike.
A total of 4 966 new confirmed cases were recorded on Saturday and a further 4 621 cases on Sunday, respectively, portraying a bleak picture regarding South Africa’s fight against COVID-19.
These numbers are by far the highest jump ever recorded in South Africa since the country announced its first case on the 5th of March.
‘Change of behaviour’
This massive increase earlier led the Health Minister Zweli Mkhize to issue a stern warning that the infection rate of COVID-19 is going to skyrocket further if people don’t change their behaviour to prevent the spread of the coronavirus.
Speaking to SABC News, Mkhize expressed that if people don’t adhere to preventative measures, the number of COVID-19 cases are going to see a sharp increase.
“We’re talking about the 97 000 today but in a few weeks we’ll be talking about several hundred thousands and that actually is because of this behaviour. What we’re seeing now, wait for two weeks you will see the impact of how the recklessness that we would have actually seen now, how it will actually translate in the numbers of more new infections that are going to be coming.”
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