The total number of Covid-19 infections in South Africa have increased to 2,415, the ministry of health said on Tuesday.

The figure marks an increase of 143 on the tally given by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Monday evening.

South Africa has so far recorded 27 fatalities related to the virus, with Mkhize on Monday signalling concern that one of the latest victims was a 57-year-old man with no evident serious underlying health conditions.

The highest number of cases remained those in Gauteng, with 909, followed by the Western Cape with 643 and KwaZulu-Natal with 489.

Mkhize and his special adviser Salim Abdool Karim on Monday said government interventions had proven successful in reducing the rate at which the virus was spreading through the country.

Abdool Karim attributed a tenfold reduction in the rate at which new infections were manifesting to measures put in place in the fortnight before the country went into lockdown on March 27. These included school closures and restrictions on travel and large gatherings.

He said the actual impact of the lockdown on the infection curve would become apparent this week as the South Africans entered the third week of being confined to their homes.

The prominent epidemiologist explained that it took two weeks to what extent precautionary steps were working because this was the period it took for patients to manifest symptoms of the virus after they had been exposed to infection.

Mkhize stressed that though South Africa had for the moment avoided the exponential increase in infections seen in other countries this did not suggest it would be spared the full impact of the virus.

Source: ANA