Seven children have died from the coronavirus in Gauteng over the last week. Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku confirmed Friday [July 9], according to Times Live. The children were all under the age of nine.
Masuku made this announcement while speaking during a weekly provincial command council briefing. Their deaths make up 1.4% of the fatalities in the province, which at the time of the briefing had 515 recorded deaths.
Masuku also said that 3006 people had been admitted to hospital for COVID-19 in the province thus far. Approximately 197 of these are on ventilators and 551 have been placed on oxygen support.
He continued in saying that 3920 beds would be made available to five field hospitals. The current bed capacity in public and private hospitals is 8730 for the province.
Gauteng surpassed the Western Cape in becoming South Africa’s coronavirus epicentre on Wednesday, July 8. Gauteng currently has 87033 total confirmed cases, which equals 34.7% of the country’s total. Of this, 23 804 people have recovered. The province reported 39 new deaths on July 10, bringing the total deaths in Gauteng to 554.
As of today, the total number of confirmed #COVID19 cases is 250 687, the total number of deaths is 3860 and the total number of recoveries is 118 232. pic.twitter.com/j2PEGTCHqG
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) July 10, 2020
Image: Unsplash
