Health Minister Zweli Mkhize briefed the media on Friday evening, 29 May 2020 regarding lockdown level three, and released the current COVID-19 figures as well.
Minister Mkhize was joined by members of the Ministerial Advisory Committee, senior officials from the Department of Health and the leadership of Health Entities, as well as SAHPRA, NHLS, and NICD.
The Health Ministry announced that the number of COVID-19 cases in South Africa had increased by 1 837 since Thursday 28 May, bringing the total cumulative caseload to 29 240.
Deaths also increased by 59; the total number of COVID-19-related deaths now stands at 611. In addition, 15 093 people have recovered from the virus. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said during the briefing:
“Our infection rose from imported cases and we had to impose a lockdown immediately. Now other issues have risen, and we need to consider these important issues as we move to a new reality”.
As of today, the cumulative number of confirmed #COVID19 cases in South Africa is 29 240, total number of deaths is 611 and
the recoveries to date are 15 093. pic.twitter.com/PueE13s3kZ— Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) May 29, 2020
#COVID19 Statistics in South Africa as at 29 May 2020. pic.twitter.com/pjWFXDWkD9
— Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) May 29, 2020
NEW CASES, DEATHS AND RECOVERIES BY PROVINCE
The confirmed COVID-19 cases per province is as follows:
TESTS AND SCREENING
On Thursday evening, Minister Mkhize also addressed the backlog of more than 96 000 unprocessed COVID-19 tests. He explained that limited availability of kits poses a challenge. As of today:
A total of 680 175 tests have been conducted, of which 24 452 were done in the last 24 hours.
The total number of tests conducted in the private sector stands at 335 834, of which 13 555 were done in the last 24 hours.
In addition, 344 341 tests were conducted in the public sector, with 10 897 being done within the last 24 hours.
GLOBAL STATISTICS
Confirmed global cases stand at 5 971 159 and 364 301 deaths. More than 2 629 624 people have recovered from the virus, which was declared as a worldwide pandemic in January 2020.
The USA currently has the most cases – 1 777 821 confirmed cases and 103 822 confirmed deaths; a total of 502 116 citizens have recovered and more than 16 million have been tested.
Out of America’s 1 171 883 active cases, 17 161 are critical. Brazil is still the second most-affected country 443 542 confirmed cases and 26 899 deaths. In addition, 193 181 patients have recovered
