South Africa recorded its highest number of Covid-19 infections in 24 hours yesterday, with the tally rising by 6 579 to 118 375.
Deaths rose by 87 to 2 292 (53 in the Western Cape, 17 in the Eastern Cape, 15 in KwaZulu-Natal and 2 in Gauteng).
Health minister Zweli Mkhize said the mortality rate was 1.9%.
The number of recoveries is 59 974, which translates to a recovery rate of 50.7%.
Gauteng Health MEC Dr Bandile Masuku expressed concern about recoveries in the province ‘slowing down’.
Gauteng has the second highest number of recorded cases in the country – 28 746 (24.3% of the national total) – but only 5 856 recoveries. This gives the province the highest number of active cases nationally, at 22 890.
The Western Cape, with 56 780 recorded cases (48% of the national total), and 39 475 recoveries, has 17 305 active cases.
Masuku said yesterday the surge was expected, but added: ‘Gauteng is the highest in terms of active cases. We are worried about this as our recoveries are slowing down.’
The death toll remains highest in the Western Cape (1 652), followed by the Eastern Cape (363), Gauteng (149) and KwaZulu-Natal (106). All the other provinces have recorded fewer than 10 deaths.
Globally, the World Health Organisation (WHO) has warned of a ‘very significant resurgence’ across Europe, which if left unchecked would mean health systems would be ‘pushed to the brink’.
According to a BBC report, the WHO’s regional director Dr Hans Henri Kluge said almost 20 000 new cases and more than 700 new deaths were being recorded daily across the organisation’s European region, an expansive area covering 54 countries and seven territories across Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.
He said accelerated transmission in 11 places, including Armenia, Sweden, Moldova and North Macedonia, had led to ‘very significant resurgence’. As a whole, the region had reported 2.6 million cases and 195 000 deaths.
Difficulties associated with the lockdown in South Africa continued to earn headlines.
The restaurant industry – promised a reprieve in President Cyril Ramaphosa’s address to the country eight days – was still waiting for the gazetting of regulations to enable establishments to reopen.
It was announced last night that the Western Cape High Court would hear the case brought against the ban on cigarette sales by British American Tobacco South Africa (BATSA) on Tuesday 30 June, a week later than initially scheduled.
Two weeks ago, the North Gauteng High Court reserved judgment in the case against the ban brought by the Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association.
Meanwhile, one of the country’s top medical scientists, Professor Shabir Madhi of Wits, said in a MyHealthTV.com webinar on Wednesday that ‘there really isn’t much merit from a scientific perspective in terms of banning smoking but allowing people to buy alcohol – in fact, what we are seeing right now is that the sale of alcohol is resulting in an increased pressure on our healthcare facilities’.
He said that on the question of whether stopping smoking would protect anyone against Covid-19, the answer was ‘no’, because the damage caused by smoking would not be overcome in the short term.