Cape Town – There have been 7 209 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 infections and 221 deaths in South Africa, bringing the death toll to 67 080 on Monday.
This increase represents a 27.3% positivity rate. According to a statement by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), as of Monday, the country recorded 2 302 304 laboratory confirmed cases.
On Sunday, there were another 11 215 cases of Covid-19, with 183 people dying.
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (36%), followed by the Western Cape (17%). Mpumalanga accounted for 10% of today’s new cases; KwaZulu-Natal for 9%; and the Eastern Cape, Limpopo and North West each accounted for 7%; the Free State for 4%; and the Northern Cape for 2%.
Gauteng is leading with 818 859 confirmed cases in total, followed by KwaZulu-Natal with 376 398 and the Western Cape at 365 847. A total of 26 407 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours.
A total of 14 269 993 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.
There has been an increase of 533 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. The following table is a summary of reported COVID-19 admissions by sector.
Life expectancy in South Africa has plunged by several years as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, the country's statistics agency said on Monday, AFP reported.
South Africa has been the worst-hit country in Africa for Covid-19, recording nearly 2.3 million infections, of which 66,859 have been fatal.
The surge has resulted in a one-third hike in the death rate, which rose from 8.7 fatalities per 1 000 in 2020 to 11.6 per thousand in 2021, Statistics South Africa said in a report.
There was a significant rise in the number of deaths in 2021, approximately 34%.
— Stats SA (@StatsSA) July 19, 2021
Read more here: https://t.co/2ApxFr2gdh#StatsSA #SApopulation pic.twitter.com/UCeID8JTL0
The steep jump has translated into a drop in life expectancy, a benchmark of how long a person can statistically expect to live if born today.
"Life expectancy at birth for males declined from 62.4 (years) in 2020 to 59.3 in 2021... and from 68.4 in 2020 to 64.6 for females," it said.
It cautioned that the statistic was not a projection of individual lifespan but a tool used in health policy, and in this case highlighted the burden of the pandemic.
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