Covid-19 update: 136 new cases reported in SA

As of Monday, South Africa has reported a total of 2.926,075 positive cases of Covid-19, with 136 new cases identified in the past 24 hours.

 This increase represents a 0.9% positivity rate. 

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (43%), followed by Western Cape (16%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 13%; Northern Cape and North West each accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; Eastern Cape accounted for 5%; Free State accounted for 4%; and Limpopo accounted for 0% of today’s new cases.

As per the National Department of Health, a further five Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 89,489 to date, said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, in a statement on Monday evening.

18.933,156 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 18 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

More than five million dead

The coronavirus has killed at least 5,098,386 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Monday. 

The US has suffered the most Covid-related deaths with 763,092, followed by Brazil with 611,283, India with 463,655, Mexico with 291,147 and Russia with 256,597.

The countries with the most new deaths were Russia with 1,211, followed by Ukraine with 442 and Romania with 233.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.