Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize has urged people over 63 and those with conditions associated with serious illness from the Coronavirus Covid-19 to take extra care as lockdown conditions ease. And he urged South Africans to stay at home as far as possible, except to perform essential tasks, throughout the lockdown stages.
As of today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 6336, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases has confirmed.
The total number of tests conducted to date was 230 686, of which 13 164 had been done in the past 24 hours – “the highest number of tests done in a 24-hour cycle to date”.
The Provincial Breakdown is as follows
| Province | Cases |
| Eastern Cape | 732 |
| Free State | 121 |
| Gauteng | 1598 |
| KwaZulu Natal | 1051 |
| Limpopo | 36 |
| Mpumalanga | 40 |
| North West | 35 |
| Northern Cape | 23 |
| Western Cape | 2700 |
| Total | 6336 |
Reported Deaths, Recoveries and Comments
“Regrettably, we are saddened to report a further 7 COVID-19 related deaths from the Western Cape and Free State. This brings the total number of deaths to 123,” the Minister said. “We wish to express our condolences to the families of the deceased and salute the health care workers who treated the deceased patients.”
However, there had been 2549 recoveries.
Provincial breakdown of deaths and recoveries
| Province | Deaths | Recoveries |
| Eastern Cape | 13 | 275 |
| Free State | 6 | 96 |
| Gauteng | 12 | 948 |
| KwaZulu Natal | 34 | 375 |
| Limpopo | 2 | 25 |
| Mpumalanga | 0 | 18 |
| North West | 0 | 20 |
| Northern Cape | 0 | 13 |
| Western Cape | 56 | 779 |
| Total | 123 | 2549 |
The minister said patterns and areas of high risk indicated the following:
Distribution of deaths by gender
| Male (%) | Female (%) | Total |
| 71 (58%) | 52 (42%) | 123 |
Distribution of deaths by age
| Age | Deaths (%) |
| 0-9 | 0 (0%) |
| 10-19 | 0 (0%) |
| 20-29 | 1 (0.8%) |
| 30-39 | 6 (4.9%) |
| 40-49 | 19 (15.5%) |
| 50-59 | 23 (18.7%) |
| 60-69 | 30 (24.4%) |
| 70-79 | 28 (22.7%) |
| 80-89 | 14 (11.4%) |
| 90-99 | 2 ( 1.6%) |
| 123 (100) |
The median age of patients who died was 64.
Co-morbidities
Data for patients who had been hospitalised showed that consistent with evidence emerging worldwide, hypertension, diabetes, and cardiac disease are the three most common co-morbidities associated with serious illness from COVID-19.
Other co-morbidities that were seen amongst COVID-19 admitted patients were chronic pulmonary disease, asthma, chronic renal disease, malignancy, HIV, active and past tuberculosis.
“I would, therefore, like to urge our millions of South Africans who are over 63 years of age and those who live with these conditions to take extra precaution as we ease the lockdown,” Mkhize said. “I would also like to urge all South Africans to continue to stay at home as far as possible, only venturing out to perform essential tasks as we move through the stages of the gradual lifting of lockdown.”
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