Gauteng remains Covid-19 epicentre with 37% of cases

Gauteng remains the epicentre of the Covid-19 pandemic, recording 37% of confirmed cases in the country, Premier David Makhura said in a virtual briefing on Thursday.

“Before the lockdown, 52% of all confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa were in Gauteng. As of 15 April, the number of confirmed cases in our province constitutes 37% of the national total,” he added.

The 930 confirmed cases in the province are as follows:

• Johannesburg: 558
• Ekurhuleni: 161
• Tshwane: 104
• West Rand: 35
• Sedibeng: 8
• Unallocated: 64.

Makhura said the lockdown had significantly slowed down the infection rate and the province had lost five residents to the virus.

He said he was encouraged by the fact 479 patients have recovered from Covid-19.

“This means that 51.5% of those who were infected have recovered. However, we are not complacent because the journey to the peak is still long.”

As of Thursday afternoon, the province has 101 infected people in hospitals, with 15 of those being in intensive care.

“This means 1.6% of those infected have required intensive care,” Makhura said.

In addition, 6,431 identified contacts have been traced or placed in isolation or quarantine, while 2,394 have been cleared.

“The remaining 3,047 remain under medical surveillance by our team of tracers until they are cleared,” he added.

Since 31 March, community health workers and professionals in the province have screened 196,421 people, 2,591 of whom were referred for testing.

“Screening and testing is focusing on areas of high density of contacts, whether in the suburbs or townships,” Makhura said.

As of Wednesday, the national health department recorded 2,506 confirmed cases, with 90,515 tests conducted to date.

Seven more deaths were recorded in the country, bringing the toll to 34.

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