COVID-19 latest: SA records 9 000 new cases, 344 deaths
South Africa has recorded an additional 9 010 cases of COVID-19 in a single day, which brings the total number of confirmed cases since the start of the pandemic to 1 346 936.
This is the first time the country has reported less than 10 000 cases of the virus since December – at the start of the second wave.
COVID-19 has also claimed 344 more lives in the country – which now puts the death toll at 37 449.
Of the latest deaths, 63 were in Gauteng, 91 in KwaZulu-Natal, 66 in the Eastern Cape, 88 in the Western Cape, 11 in the Free State, Mpumalanga has recorded 12 deaths and 13 in the Northern Cape.
The cumulative total of tests conducted to date is 7 653 371 with 39 90 new tests conducted since the last report.
| Province | Total cases in SA | Total Deaths | Total recoveries | Active cases |
| Gauteng | 364 269 | 7 009 | 315 982 | 41 278 |
| Western Cape | 258 124 | 9 220 | 209 049 | 39 855 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 283 176 | 6 409 | 214 798 | 61 969 |
| North West | 51 547 | 783 | 37 293 | 13 471 |
| Northern Cape | 29 757 | 509 | 24 655 | 4 593 |
| Free State | 70 891 | 2 473 | 58 065 | 10 353 |
| Eastern Cape | 187 171 | 9 510 | 172 623 | 7 658 |
| Limpopo | 48 158 | 739 | 39 761 | 8 461 |
| Mpumalanga | 53 843 | 797 | 45 226 | 7 820 |
COVID-19: New variant not more severe, says Karim
At the same time, the chairperson of government’s Ministerial Committee on COVID-19 Professor Salim Abdool Karim has said that the new variant of the disease was a cause for concern.
Karim and Health Minister Zweli Mkhize were part of a panel of experts who were discussing the impact of the second wave of COVID-19 virus on the country on Monday, 18 January 2021,
“There is no evidence that this variant is more severe,” Karim said.
“It is spreading faster. We do not yet have any answer on it. We are still working on it. A date is not yet available,”
No comments: