Johannesburg | South Africa exceeded the mark of 10,000 positive cases in 24 hours, reaching 21% positivity on COVID tests, the Minister of Health worried in a statement Wednesday evening.
As of Monday this figure was already more than 8,000 new cases per day, prompting President Cyril Ramaphosa to announce new restrictions, including an early curfew at 11 p.m. and the occasional closure during the holidays of many beaches in the south-east of the country at the start of this southern summer.
At the peak of the first wave in July, the country had counted up to 12,000 cases / day.
“We have passed the 10,000 case mark, our new daily cases are increasing exponentially,” Zweli Mkhize worried. “Our positivity rate stands at 21%, well above the ideal rate of 10%.”
The most affected regions remain those of Cape Town, the southern tip of the country, with almost a third of the 10,008 new cases, underlines the Minister of Health, ahead of Kwazulu-Natal (south-east) then the region of the economic capital Johannesburg.
“Our beaches are generally crowded at this time of year and people are carefree,” notes the minister. But vacationers who will be heading to the beach on days where it remains permitted during the holidays should take the necessary precautions. So that these days of jubilation do not turn into “days of regret”, resulting in new cases and deaths, pleads Mr. Mkhize.
On Sunday evening, the country of nearly 58 million inhabitants had 23,827 dead, for 883,687 positive cases, since the start of the pandemic.