South Africa
More than 300 new #Covid19 related deaths recorded─── 07:27 Sat, 20 Mar 2021
There's been a sharp increase in South Africa's daily COVID-19 related deaths with 311 fatalities reported over the past 24 hours, which pushed the country's death toll to 52,035.
There have been 1,462 new cases in the same 24 hours, bringing the number of infections to more than 1,535,000 cases.
The recovery rate stood at 95% meaning at least 1,461,000 people have recuperated from the virus here at home since its outbreak.
At the same time, Gauteng Premier David Makhura on Friday pleaded with travellers, religious leaders and residents to limit gatherings ahead of the Easter holiday.
Speaking during a Gauteng provincial command council update, the premier said that he was particularly worried about public gatherings as the province prepared for the long weekend and the Easter break.
Gauteng, which is the country’s epicentre in terms of the number of COVID-19 infections, has had over 400,000 COVID-19 cases since the outbreak began.
Meanwhile, the Western Cape health department said that its health platform was stabilising as it saw a consistent decline in COVID-19 cases and hospitalisations.
There were currently 950 people in hospital with the virus.
The department said that COVID-19 hospitalisations had continued to decline, however, there has been an increase in trauma cases.
Cape Town hospitals have an average occupancy rate of 86%, George at 62% and Paarl at 71%.
