Grim milestone as SA reaches more than 18,000 Covid-19 deaths

SA passed 18,000 Covid-19 related deaths on Tuesday night, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said.

The country also climbed towards 695,000 total Covid-19 cases, with 1,178 new cases recorded in the past 24 hours. There are now 694,537 total confirmed infections across SA.

Mkhize said 18 Covid-19 related deaths occurred in the past “24 to 48 hours”.

However, there were another 147 deaths that were recorded since Monday's night's statistical release. These deaths had taken place in the past, but had been verified only in the past 24 hours.

Of the newly reported deaths, 31 were in the Eastern Cape, 28 in the Free State, 50 in KwaZulu-Natal, 31 in Gauteng, five in Limpopo and the Northern Cape, four in Mpumalanga, and 11 in the Western Cape.

“This brings the total number of Covid-19 related deaths to 18,028,” Mkhize said.

There were also 625,574 recorded recoveries to date, at a recovery rate of 90%.

The figures are based on 4,433,952 total tests, with 15,534 tests in the most recent 24-hour cycle.

TimesLIVE