Covid-19 update: SA records 198 new deaths

As of Monday, the total number of positive cases of coronavirus in South Africa is 2.824,063, with 4,118 new cases identified since the last report, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has announced.

This increase, according to the NICD, represents a 14.0% positivity rate.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 198 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 83,617 to date,” said the institute in a statement.

The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (28%), followed by Eastern Cape (24%). Free State accounted for 12%; Western Cape accounted for 11%; Northern Cape accounted for 9%; Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; Gauteng Province accounted for 6%; North West accounted for 4%; and Limpopo Province accounted for 1% of today’s new cases, it said.

There has been an increase of 242 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

The coronavirus has killed at least 4,565,622 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP compilation of official data. 

The US is the worst-affected country with 648,472 deaths, followed by Brazil with 583,628, India with 440,752, Mexico 263,140 and Peru 198,488.

Based on latest reports, the countries with the most new deaths were Russia with 790, followed by Iran with 610 and the US with 394. 

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde. Additional reporting by AFP