East London prisoner dies of Covid-19 as cases rise

A 50-year-old inmate at an East London prison has died of Covid-19 after suffering from respiratory failure, the correctional services department said on Monday.

Department spokesperson Singabakho Nxumalo said the prisoner died on May 20.

Nxumalo said 246 officials working for the department of correctional services and 473 inmates have contracted Covid-19.

He said the Western Cape recorded nine additional cases among officials and the Eastern Cape recorded one additional case, also an official.

The department had reported 143 recoveries.

The breakdown of Covid-19 cases in the department is:

• Eastern Cape: 489 cases, 72 recoveries and three deaths
• Western Cape: 206 cases, 59 recoveries and two deaths
• Limpopo: two cases and one recovery
• Gauteng: 16 cases, 10 recoveries
• Northern Cape: two cases
• Free State: one case
• KwaZulu-Natal: two cases
• Head office: one case and one recovery.

Health minister Zweli Mkhize said on Sunday night the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 22,583, with 429 fatalities.

The total number of recoveries is 11,100 with 11,483 active cases, he said.

"This translates to a recovery rate of 49%. This is above the global recovery rate, which is 42%."

A total of 583,855 tests have been conducted to date, with 19,485 tests completed in the previous 24-hour testing cycle.