There have been 63 more COVID-19 related deaths in South Africa on Sunday, October 18 bringing the death toll to 18 741.
A total of 1662 new confirmed cases of the virus have been detected since the last report. This pushes the country’s total number of confirmed cases to 703 793.
“Regrettably, we report 63 more Covid-19 related deaths: 9 from Eastern Cape and 54 from KwaZulu-Natal. This brings the total number of Covid-19 related deaths to 18 471. Of the deaths reported today, none were reported to have occurred in the past 24-48 hours,” said Minister of Health, Zweli Mkhize.
Mkhize said the recovery rate remained stable at 90% for the past three weeks, with 634 543 people having regained their health after contracting the virus.
In total, 4 549 478 people have been tested for COVID-19 with 21 337 new tests added since the last report.
Earlier on Sunday, Dr Mkhize revealed that he and his wife had both tested positive for coronavirus. In a series of tweets, he said that he was self-quarantining at home while his wife was admitted to hospital for ‘observation and rehydration’.
“…both my wife and I remain optimistic that we will fully recover from this virus,” said Mkhize.
The World Health Organization (WHO) warned that Africa is currently experiencing a resurgence in COVID-19 infections as a result of more countries relaxing their restrictions, according to SABC News.
WHO Africa regional director Matshido Moeti says the number of new daily confirmed cases started increasing after slowing down in mid-July and there has been a “substantial rise in deaths” confirmed in the last week.
However, the Africa Centre of Disease Control contends that the increase in reported deaths could the result of an improvement in African countries’ ability to document COVID-19 related deaths.
Europe has seen a remarkable resurgence in coronavirus infections. The region is reporting more daily cases than India, Brazil and the United States combined, according to Reuters.
On Saturday, October 17 Reuters reported that the global coronavirus cases increased by more than 400 000 – breaking the record for the most new cases recorded in one day.
By Monday, October 19, the global coronavirus cases had passed the 40-million mark, according to a Reuters tally. In the last week there was an average of around 347 000 new cases added each day, compared to 292 000 new cases per day in the first week of October.
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