Which provinces have the most active Covid-19 cases?

Covid-19 continues to spread across SA, with the highest number of active cases detected in the Western Cape, Free State, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng. 

The department of health and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 354 new Covid-19 cases on Friday, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 4,004,555 since the pandemic hit SA.

The Western Cape reported 1,544 active cases, the Free State 1,216, KwaZulu-Natal 876 and Gauteng 762.

Limpopo had the lowest number of reported active cases at 40, followed by the Northern Cape (66) and North West (101).

Five deaths were reported, though these did not occur in the 24 to 48 hours before the report. It brings the total number of fatalities to 101,982.

There had been an increase of 18 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

The NICD no longer reports daily infection numbers over weekends, and on Sunday said it will in future only publish surveillance data weekly. 

“The department will, with effect from August 1, publish the Covid-19 surveillance data on a weekly basis, but continue to closely monitor the situation,” said health department spokesperson Foster Mohale.

Mohale said the decision does not mean the pandemic is over, and vaccination services would remain accessible at designated sites, including some public health facilities.

“Until such time the World Health Organisation announces the pandemic is over, we urge people to vaccinate and continue to do everything possible to keep themselves safe against the current and future variants of concern,” he said

“The NICD supports the decision and concurs that the current phase of the pandemic no longer requires daily Covid-19 updates. The public should be mindful that disease trends and weekly surveillance data largely inform health policies.

“Therefore, the NICD remains committed to its surveillance activities and will continue reporting Covid-19 surveillance data as per normal, with the data published in the existing weekly surveillance reports.” 

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