South Africa recorded 11 386 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, which represents a 19% positivity rate.<\/p>\n
This pushes the total number of confirmed infections since the outbreak to 1 380 807.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, a further 647 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported.<\/p>\n
Of the latest fatalities, 154 patients passed away in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, 139 in the Eastern Cape, 137 in the Western Cape, 93 in Gauteng, 55 in the North West and 17 each in Free State and the North West.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, eight were recorded in the Northern Cape, which brings the death toll to 39 501 to date.<\/p>\n
The recovery rate stands at 85.7% after 1 183 443 beat the respiratory disease.<\/p>\n
\u201cA cumulative total of tests conducted to date is 7 820 613 with 58 540 new tests conducted since the last report,\u201d said Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.<\/p>\n
The number of active cases is now sitting at 157 863.<\/p>\n
KwaZulu-Natal still has the highest number of active cases which stand at 44 790, followed by Gauteng with 34 283, while the Western Cape has 29 964.<\/p>\n
The North West currently has 14 588 people who are currently infected, 9 390 in Free State, 8 701 in Mpumalanga, 7 334 in Limpopo, 4 436 in the Eastern Cape and 4 377 in the North West.<\/p>\n
According to the World Health Organisation, there have been 95 612 831 confirmed global cases of COVID-19, including 2 066 176 deaths, reported to date.<\/p>\n
Mkhize remembers Mthembu<\/strong><\/p>\n Mkhize has also honoured the late Minister in the Presidency, Jackson Mthembu, who succumbed to COVID-19 on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cA giant tree has fallen. A communicator par excellence and an even better man. He was always friendly and shall be missed for his kind and generous spirit,\u201d Mkhize said.<\/p>\n Mkhize has described Mthembu, who was 62, as someone who had a simple approach to life.<\/p>\n \u201cHe just wanted to be friendly, helpful and he always wanted everyone to feel special and comfortable around him,\u201d he told eNCA on Friday morning.<\/p>\n He recalled how Mthembu was always determined for people to understand what is going on with COVID-19.<\/p>\n \u201cHe would make sure that no issues are left unattended,\u201d he told the news broadcaster, adding that he wanted people to be informed. <\/p>\n \u201cWhat we will miss is each and every time a regulation is passed or an announcement made by the President. He was the one that would organise a programme after, to inform the people of what is now happening; what has been decided,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n He said Mthembu also ensured that government was transparent.<\/p>\n \u201cI think that must be one of the things that we keep as a legacy to his memory.\u201d<\/p>\n The Health Minister has since sent his deepest love and condolences to the family in this painful time. \u2013 SAnews.gov.za<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" South Africa recorded 11 386 new COVID-19 cases on Thursday, which represents a 19% positivity rate. This pushes the total number of confirmed infections since the outbreak to 1 380 807. Meanwhile, a further 647 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported. Of the latest fatalities, 154 patients passed away in Kwa-Zulu-Natal, 139 in the Eastern Cape, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[38678],"class_list":{"0":"post-178016","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-sanews","8":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178016\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}