Covid-19 update: SA reports 726 cases and 33 deaths

South Africa has identified 726 new Covid-19 cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.968,931. This increase represents a 7.2% positivity rate.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (38%) followed by Western Cape (23%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 13%; Mpumalanga and Free State accounted for 7% each respectively. North West accounted for 6%; Northern Cape and Eastern Cape accounted for 3% each respectively; and Limpopo accounted for 1% of today’s cases.

The country has also recorded 33 deaths, and of these, 5 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 101,350 to date.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported,” said NICD.

There has been an increase of 53 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

25.376,754 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

Beijing to reopen schools and workplaces as Covid-19 curbs ease

Beijing will gradually lift Covid-19 restrictions this week, city officials said Sunday.

After some easing in recent days, the Chinese capital — which reported 19 new infections Sunday — announced residents would start returning to work from Monday and schools would reopen from June 13.

China is wedded to a zero-Covid strategy of hard lockdowns, mass testing and long quarantine periods to wipe out clusters as they emerge.

That strategy has meant restrictions on movement in major cities including Shanghai and Beijing, a metropolis of 22 million people where a resurgence of Covid-19 in April led to just under 2,000 infections.

From Monday, restaurants will be able to welcome customers again — if they have tested negative in the previous three days — and public transport will operate normally, the city’s government said in a statement.

Two districts in the capital will maintain restrictions.

In Shanghai, most of the city’s 25 million inhabitants have been able to move freely since Wednesday.

But hundreds of thousands still face restrictions after being designated close contacts of infected people.

Additional reporting by AFP