It’s possible for South Africa to beat the coronavirus, says Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. Mkhize was in Cape Town to check on plans for mass testing which will start on Monday. He’s said two suspected COVID-19 deaths still need to be verified, which will put the death toll at nine. Mkhize on Friday announced two more coronavirus deaths and 43 new confirmed cases, bringing the tally in Africa’s worst-affected country up to 1,505 infections and seven deaths.
The minister said the figure was likely to be underestimated due to testing limits. I want to raise the point that this number is affected by… the limitations of the active testing that we are doing,” said Mkhize during a press conference in Cape Town.
“When we extend the testing… we actually expect these numbers to increase. South Africa launched mass door-to-door screening and testing for coronavirus this week, with 10,000 field workers deployed across the country of 57 million people.
Mkhize said it was too early to tell whether the nationwide shutdown, which came into force last Friday, was having its desired effect. We need a lot more data that are going to show us the various trends of what is going on,” he added.
Coronavirus Hotline Number: 0800 029 999 from 8 am to 4 pm, Monday to Friday Help protect your loved ones by sharing this official South African government COVID-19 service with your family, friends and community.
Send HI to 0600 123 456 on WhatsApp. The NICD has another Clinician Hotline to improve #COVID19 communication and support for healthcare providers. The Clinician Hotline is 0800 11 1131, operating 24 hrs. The Public Hotline is 0800 029 999 also operating 24hrs.
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Source: eNCA
