The stark difference was illustrated on Friday in the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) weekly report on the progression of the pandemic across SA.
It showed the Western Cape — the worst-affected province — had 368 times more infections than its sparsely populated northern neighbour in the week ending May 23.
Even when the infection rate is adjusted for population, the Western Cape had 240 times more infections. It had conducted 14 times more tests per 100,000 residents than the Northern Cape, which is SA’s least-affected province.
On Friday, Covid-19 infections in the Western Cape increased by 1,064 cases (6.16%) to 18,350. Deaths increased by 34 to 437 and recoveries were up by 673 to 9,830.