SA records 16,435 new Covid-19 cases — mostly in Gauteng

SA recorded 16,435 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday with the majority of them, 44%, coming from Gauteng.

The Western Cape followed with 18% of the new infections.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday that a further 377 Covid-19 related deaths had been reported, bringing total fatalities to date to 65,972.

Civil unrest and looting has had an adverse effect on the number of tests carried out in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng.

“Understanding that services have been adversely affected and services may be temporarily closed we encourage all our communities to seek medical help if they have Covid-19 symptoms such as fever, lethargy, a dry cough, or trouble breathing,” the NICD said in a statement.

“Individuals who are unable to access testing facilities and believe they have been infected or have had direct contact with someone who has been confirmed positive should call the Covid-19 -19 hotline on 0800 029 999, stay at home, quarantine for 10 days, and minimise contact with others.”

The total number of laboratory-confirmed cases of Covid-19 in SA is now 2,253,240 which represents a 29.9% positivity rate.

There were 54,998 tests carried out in the past 24 hours.

“There has been an increase of 726 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours,” said the NICD.

TimesLIVE