Chronicle Editor
Cape Town – Gauteng Premier David Makhura has announced that the third wave of Covid-19 has hit the province.
For the past two days the province has been recording over 1 000 positive cases. The Emfuleni region in the Vaal has seen a spike in the number of new Covid-19 cases during the last three weeks.
Making the announcement earlier today, Makhura said the province was in the grip of a Covid-19 third wave.
“Having seen over 1000 cases a day we cannot afford to close down the provinces economy but definitely we want to see an increase in restrictions,” said Makhura.
He was speaking during the official opening of a refurbished mining hospital in Carletonville, west of Johannesburg.
On Thursday, the government reported that Covid-19 cases had increased by 3 221 in the last 24 hours, heightening fears of the dreaded third wave.
In a statement, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said the national tally of confirmed cases to date now stood at 1 605 252, with 29 362 of them still active.
South Africa’s Covid-19-related death toll had risen to 55 012 with 44 new fatalities, he added.
Nineteen of the deaths were in the Free State province, 13 in Gauteng, five in the Western Cape, three in KwaZulu-Natal and two each in the Eastern Cape and Northern Cape.
“The number of tests conducted to date is 11 010 999. Of these 42 073 tests were conducted since the last report. The cumulative recoveries now stand at 1 520 878, representing a recovery rate of 94.7 percent,” Mkhize said.
Meanwhile, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says new restrictions are inevitable as the country approaches the third wave.
The number of positive Covid-19 cases has been steadily increasing, for the past weeks. At a provincial level, the Free State and Gauteng were now experiencing a third wave.
Northern Cape never met the technical criterion for exiting the second wave and has experienced a significant resurgence in recent weeks.
Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga, North West and the Western Cape are showing sustained increases, while Limpopo and Eastern Cape are the only two provinces not at risk of a third wave at present.
Mkhize who has called for the public not to panic, said discussions were underway with the Coronavirus Command Council, on what is the best way to reduce the numbers from increasing.-IOL.
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