By Daniel Itai – The Zimbabwe Daily
Pretoria, South Africa – South Africa has now surpassed the 100 000 mark in the number of COVID-19 confirmed cases.
In the last 24 hours the southern African country has now recorded 101 590 COVID-19 cases with 1 991 fatalities making it the country with the highest number of COVID-19 cases on the continent.
The country is currently on lockdown alert level three which has resulted in almost the re-opening of the country’s whole economic sectors.
However, this has relatively contributed to the high numbers of COVID-19 cases with the country’s Western Cape province constituting more than 50 percent of the country’s entire COVID-19 cases.
“Some epidemiological models, including the National Covid-19 Epi Model (NCEM) which is relied on by the national government for forecasting, have estimated that the province will experience its peak soon.
While we cannot pinpoint the exact date at which we will reach this peak, we are experiencing increased pressure in our hospitals.
At the same time, the economy is opening up further, now is therefore the time to be extra vigilant to slow the spread.
If you are over the age of 55 or you have an underlying illness, you are at higher risk of becoming seriously ill or dying, it is therefore important that you take extra precautions and stay home wherever possible.
Those who are healthy should assist those at higher risk with tasks like shopping or errands that require them to leave the house.
Our data however, has shown that age and underlying illnesses including diabetes and high blood pressure present the greatest risk for becoming seriously ill or dying,” said Alan Winde, Premier of the Western Cape.
Globally there are now 9 million COVID-19 confirmed cases with the United States of America constituting 25 percent of the global cases followed by Brazil.
