South Africa recorded 3 614 new COVID-19 cases, which brings the total number of detected infections to 1 669 231.

Meanwhile, 95 deaths were logged on Tuesday, pushing the death toll to 56 601.

According to Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, 44 fatalities were recorded in Gauteng, 27 in Free State, nine in the Western Cape, seven in the Northern Cape, five in KwaZulu-Natal, three in the Eastern Cape, while the rest of the provinces reported zero deaths.

“Provinces are continuing with their mortality audits and some dates have been back-captured from previous months,” Mkhize explained.

The Minister has conveyed his condolences and thanked the healthcare workers who treated the deceased.  

According to Mkhize, there are 1 563 719 people who beat COVID-19, while the active cases have now increased to 48 911.

The information is based on the 11 667 916 tests of which 36 677 were recorded since the last report.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), there are now 170 426 245 confirmed global cases of COVID-19, including 3 548 628 deaths.

Global view

According to the WHO’s weekly epidemiological update, the number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths continues to decrease.

The WHO said over 3.5 million new infections and 78 000 new deaths were reported in the past week, a 15% and 7% decrease respectively, compared to the previous week.

In addition, the European and South-East Asia regions logged the largest drop in new cases and deaths in the past week, while case incidence increased in the African and Western Pacific regions.

“The numbers of cases reported by the Americas and Eastern Mediterranean regions were similar to those reported in the previous week,” the organisation said, adding that Africa recorded a peak.

Meanwhile, Europe and the Eastern Mediterranean regions reported a decline, while Western Pacific and the Americas regions recorded similar death incidence compared to the previous week.

“Although the number of global cases and deaths continued to decrease for a fifth and fourth consecutive week respectively, case and death incidences remain at high levels and significant increases have been reported in many countries in all regions.”

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from India (1 364 668 new cases, 26% decrease), Brazil (420 981 new cases, 7% decrease), Argentina (219 910 new cases, 3% increase), the United States (153 587 new cases, 18% decrease), and Colombia (150 517 new cases, 40% increase). 

Source: South African Government News Agency