
South Africa reports highest single-day increase in COVID-19 cases
#COVID__19 Statistics in South Africa as at 29 April 2020. pic.twitter.com/bdCE6MsaoN
— Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) April 29, 2020
South Africa on Wednesday reported 354 more COVID-19 confirmed cases in the past 24 hours, the highest daily surge since the country recorded its first case in early March.
“This is the highest number of cases in a 24 hour cycle recorded to date and represents a 73% increase relative to the day before,” the country Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.
“While this is well noted, the interpretation of the rate of spread is more reasonably assessed by studying trends over time,” he said.
“Regrettably, we report a further 10 deaths today from Gauteng, Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape,” he said.
All the deceased had underlying conditions except a 33-year-old female who had no previously diagnosed co-morbidities, Mkhize said.
“Her case is concerning as she was subsequently diagnosed with acute myocarditis,” said Mkhize.
He noted that one of the deceased was a registered nurse from the Western Cape who worked for the Department of Health.
According to Mkhize, the Western Cape remained the epicenter of the virus, reporting 264 cases in the past 24 hours, almost doubling the previous figure of 133 on Tuesday.
In the past 24 hours, the Western Cape contributed to 75% of the total new cases nationally while only contributing 30 percent of total tests over the same period.
Western Cape has 2,135 cases, the highest number among all the nine provinces, to be followed by Gauteng with 1,408 and KwaZulu-Natal with 956.
The newly-added cases brought the total number of cases in the country to 5,350, after conducting 197,127 tests, of which 11,630 were done in the last 24 hours.