The minister of health on Tuesday has announced that the cumulative number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is now 35,812, with 755 deaths from the disease.

The Western Cape has 23,583 cases, followed by the Eastern Cape with 4,324 cases, Gauteng with 4,276, KwaZulu-Natal with 2,637, Free State (299), North West (271), Limpopo (193), Mpumalanga (132) and Northern Cape with 91 cases.

The minister said in his daily statement that a total of 761,534 tests had been processed, with 18,792 tests conducted since the last report.

The private sector has done 41% and the public sector, 51%, of cumulative testing. Of the new tests, the public sector has done 58%.

“Regrettably, we report 50 more Covid-19 related deaths – this brings the total national deaths to 755,” Mkhize said.

“We extend our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased.”

He said that to date there were 18,313 recoveries, which translates to a recovery rate of 51,1%.

A provincial breakdown shows that the Western Cape has the highest number of deaths with 568 but it also has 12,436 recoveries, which is a recovery rate of more than 50 percent.

It is followed by the Eastern Cape with 88 deaths, KwaZulu-Natal with 53 and then Gauteng with 33 and the recovery rates in these provinces is on average 50%.

Free State has eight deaths, Limpopo has three, North West and Northern Cape have each reported 1 death, while Mpumalanga, fortunately, has still not reported any deaths.

A gender distribution shows that 53 percent of deaths are men and 47 percent are women, with the greater number of deaths occurring in the 50 to 70 age group (197 or 26,1 percent in 50-59 age group; 197 or 26,1 percent in 60-69 age group).

Source: ANA