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Agence France-Presse

South Africa has now registered more than 500,000 cases of coronavirus, the health ministry announced on Saturday, making it by far the hardest hit country in Africa.
The country has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent, accounting for more than half of Africa’s diagnosed infections.
“Today South Africa has exceeded the half-a-million mark with a cumulative total of 503,290 confirmed Covid-19 cases recorded,” Heath Minister Zweli Mkhize said in his daily update.
South Africa has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent, accounting for more than half of Africa’s diagnosed infections.


More than a third of positive cases are in Gauteng province – South Africa’s financial hub and epicentre of the outbreak.
So far the number of fatalities stands at 8,153, although local researchers have recorded a jump of nearly 60 per cent in the overall number of natural deaths in recent weeks, suggesting a much higher toll of coronavirus-related fatalities than officially recorded.
An analysis by the respected South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC) suggested an excess of 22,000 natural mortalities between May 6 and July 21 compared to same period in 2019 and 2018.
President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Saturday South Africa’s case fatality rate stood at 1.6 per cent – “significantly lower than the global average”.
“While South Africa has the fifth highest number of total Covid-19 cases globally, we have only the 36th highest number of deaths as a proportion of the population,” said Ramaphosa.

South Africa’s caseload has been rising rapidly in recent weeks.
Health authorities have been expecting a surge in cases after the gradual loosening of a strict lockdown that was imposed on March 27, during the early stage of the pandemic.
But the recovery rate has so far been a high 68 per cent.
African health systems under pressure as Covid-19 cases, death toll soar
South Africa has one of the best health care systems on the continent, but it has been rocked by alleged corruption in the supply of personal protective gear for health workers in public hospitals.
Ramaphosa’s spokeswoman Khusela Diko last week took leave pending a probe into her husband’s alleged links to unlawful contracts for personal protective equipment.
Diko and her husband have maintained their innocence, saying the contract was never finalised.
The health minister for Gauteng province Bandile Masuke was sent on forced leave this week pending a probe into suspected corruption in the purchase of protective equipment and other medical supplies.

“It is unconscionable that there are people who may be using this health crisis to unlawfully enrich themselves,” Ramaphosa said in his statement on Saturday.
South Africa has embarked on an aggressive testing and tracing exercise and it has conducted more than 3 million tests since the virus was first recorded there in early March.



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Coronavirus pandemic

Coronavirus: South Africa passes half a million confirmed cases

A family member wearing a full PPE suite looks on after the funeral of an elderly relative who died as a result of Covid-19 in Johannesburg. Photo: EPA-EFE

A member of the Muslim burial organization waits to prepare the body of a man who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) for burial at Ghiedmatiel Islamia mosque in Cape Town, South Africa, July 31, 2020. Picture taken July 31, 2020. REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham

FILE - In this Wednesday, April 29, 2020 file photo, a resident from the Alexandra township gets tested for COVID-19 in Johannesburg, South Africa. A dangerous stigma has sprung up around the coronavirus in Africa — fueled, in part, by severe quarantine rules in some countries as well as insufficient information about the virus. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay, File)

Coronavirus: African health systems under pressure as cases, death toll soar

WHO regional director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti says the continent is at a “pivotal point”. Photo: Reuters

An excavator is seen digging graves amid a nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, at the Olifantsvlei cemetery, south-west of Joburg, South Africa July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

FILE - In this June 17, 2020 file photo, a health worker prepares to take swab samples to test for the coronavirus at a drive-through screening center in Cairo, Egypt. The coronavirus pandemic will exact a heavy toll on Arab countries, causing an economic contraction of 5.7% this year, pushing millions into poverty and compounding the suffering of those affected by armed conflict, a U.N. report said Thursday, July 23, 2020. The U.N.'s Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia expects some Arab economies to shrink by up to 13%, amounting to an overall loss for the region of $152 billion. (AP Photo/Nariman El-Mofty, File)

Over 10,000 health workers in Africa infected with Covid-19 amid lack of PPE and brace for surge in cases

A nurse wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) is seen at Casa Serena, an aged care home in Johannesburg, on July 22, 2020. South Africa has been the worst hit by coronavirus but the World Health Organisation says other nations in Africa may follow with a surge in cases. Photo: AFP

FILE PHOTO: Residents are seen following social distancing rules while they queue for public transport before a curfew, as a measure to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in downtown Nairobi, Kenya April 23, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya/File Photo

Anatomy of a Covid-19 outbreak: how the coronavirus tore through a South African hospital

The outbreak of Covid-19 at Netcare St Augustine’s Hospital in Durban, South Africa, offers lessons for all. Photo: Google Maps

Coronavirus has hit South Africa’s restaurants hard and not even ‘world’s best’ Wolfgat has been spared

South African Chef Kobus van der Merwe, of Wolfgat restaurant on the beach in Paternoster. Photo: AFP

She-Earl, a cook with the South African Chef Kobus van der Merwe of the Wolfgat restaurant on the beach in Paternoster, arranges containers filled with butter sauce in a fridge, ready to be delivered on June 18, 2020. - Under normal circumstances Wolfgat, that in 2019 won the best world restaurant award for its unique back-to-basics cooking, can serve a maximum of 20 sitting guests, a tantalising seven-course meal using ingredients foraged from the sea, such as seaweed and beach succulents and berries. The pressure of the national lockdown to curb the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus has weighed-in on the restaurant. Opened in 2016, about half of its customers have been foreigners and its remote location means they aren’t on the map for takeaways from affluent Cape Town diners. In a bid to stay afloat the restaurant started producing an immersive box with an assortment of snacks for deliveries to Cape Town, which was difficult logistically and they charged half the regular price. (Ph

Coronavirus: after a surge in cases, South Africa becomes Africa’s clear leader in infections

Undertakers in protective personal equipment prepare for a Muslim burial at Westpark Cemetery in Johannesburg on Tuesday. South Africa has become the leading coronavirus-infected nation on the African continent. Photo: AP

FILE PHOTO: Matshidiso Moeti, World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Director for Africa attends a briefing for World Health Assembly (WHA) delegates on the Ebola outbreak response in Democratic Republic of the Congo at the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, May 23, 2018. REUTERS/Denis Balibouse/File Photo

FILE PHOTO: South African President Cyril Ramaphosa visits the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) treatment facilities at the NASREC Expo Centre in Johannesburg, South Africa April 24, 2020. Jerome Delay/Pool via REUTERS/File Photo

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World

Africa

Coronavirus


South Africa has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent
More than 8,000 people have died as a result of Covid-19 in the country since the outbreak began



Coronavirus: South Africa passes half a million confirmed cases

South Africa has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent More than 8,000 people have died as a result of Covid-19 in the country since the outbreak began

South Africa has become the epicentre of the deadly pandemic on the continent

More than 8,000 people have died as a result of Covid-19 in the country since the outbreak began