COVID-19 infections are steadily declining in the country. The latest governmental update reveals that there were only 772 new coronavirus cases identified within the last 24-hour cycle, the lowest it has been since May.
South Africa now has a cumulative total of 651 521 COVID-19 infections. Gauteng leads the way with 33,1% of the total infections. KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape round out the top three with 17,9% and 16.7% respectively.
Health Minister Zweli Mhkize said in a statement that revised models may prove these numbers wrong, however.
“Interestingly, the revised models currently predict that there are probably about 12 million South African in total (detected and undetected) infected with Coronavirus- this translates to about 20% of the population.”
“We are currently embarking on a national seroprevalence study which should take us closer to the actual seroprevalence of Coronavirus antibodies and will give us a more accurate indication of our status of national immunity,” Mkhize added.
The country now stands in eighth place worldwide for the most COVID-19 cases. The United States still has the highest cumulative infections, followed by India and Brazil in the top three. Russia, Peru, Colombia and Mexico stand ahead of South Africa on the list, and Spain and Argentina round out the top 10.
South Africa had a slow increase of infections initially. The infection rate steadily increased from mid-June, raising from average infections in the 4000s to over 13 000 by July.
Average infections began declining in August and data for September is now similar to that recorded in May, when the country was two months into lockdown. New infections have ranged between 1000-2000 thus far for the month of September, and recently dipped under the 1000 mark. The last time figures were this low was in May when new cases were consistently under 1000.
There have been 142 more COVID-19 related deaths: 16 from KwaZulu-Natal, 12 from Gauteng, 4 from Eastern Cape, 13 from Western Cape, 11 from Northern Cape, 19 from Mpumalanga and 67 from Limpopo. This brings the total number of COVID-19 related deaths to 15 641.
Our recoveries now stand at 583 126 which translates to a recovery rate of 89,5%.
