Pretoria Bulls’ players warm up during the team’s first official training session with Covid-19 social distancing and medical protocols in place, on 28 July 2020 at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria. Photo: AFP/CHRISTIAAN KOTZE
COVID-19 latest: SA records 4 456 new cases and 345 deaths
The Ministry of Health reports that South Africa’s caseload increased with 4 456 new cases; the recovery rate now stands at 69.8%.
Pretoria Bulls’ players warm up during the team’s first official training session with Covid-19 social distancing and medical protocols in place, on 28 July 2020 at Loftus Versfeld stadium in Pretoria. Photo: AFP/CHRISTIAAN KOTZE
The latest COVID-19 figures have been released. While the daily increase of new cases dropped significantly, an additional 345 deaths were reported for the past 24 hours.
COVID-19 in South Africa: Tuesday 4 August 2020
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Tuesday that SA’s cumulative caseload now stands at 521 318, which is an increase of 4 456 during the past 24 hours. We’ve also just exceeded the three million mark for tests conducted.
Thankfully, 363 751 patients have recovered. The recovery rate is on the increase as well, now at 69.8%. However, the minister also announced that 345 deaths were reported. This brings the death toll in South Africa to a total of 8 884.
The deaths recorded per province during the last 24 hours are as follows: 43 from Eastern Cape, 116 from Gauteng, 89 from KwaZulu Natal, 97 from the Western Cape.
A total of 19 507 tests were conducted during the last 24 hours: 10 929 from the private sector and 8 578 from the public sector. In total, 3 078 202 tests have been conducted since the novel coronavirus first broke out.
Breakdown of new confirmed COVID-19 cases
New cases, deaths and recoveries by province
The confirmed COVID-19 cases per province is as follows:
| Province | Total Cases | Deaths | Recoveries |
| Gauteng | 183 090 | 2 268 | 126 784 |
| Eastern Cape | 79 844 | 1 832 | 71 420 |
| KwaZulu Natal | 85 986 | 976 | 44 664 |
| Free State | 24 333 | 205 | 10 582 |
| Western Cape | 97 261 | 3 245 | 82 447 |
| Limpopo | 9 389 | 90 | 5 524 |
| Mpumalanga | 15 716 | 123 | 10 736 |
| North West | 20 270 | 109 | 9 206 |
| Northern Cape | 5 379 | 36 | 2 388 |
| Unallocated | 50 | 0 | 0 |
Also read — COVID-19 corruption in KZN: Officials suspended over R30 million PPE saga
Global COVID-19 news and statistics
There are currently 18 603 271 confirmed cases in the world, along with 701 253 deaths and 11 815 499 recoveries. At the time of publishing, there are 6 086 519 active cases: 6 020 777 with a mild infection, and 65 742 in critical condition.
America is still the hardest-hit in the world, now nearing the five million mark with 4 904 518 confirmed cases and 159 903 deaths. South Africa is still fifth, preceded only by Brazil, India and Russia.
As of Friday 31 July 2020, more than 900 000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 have been identified on the African continent, along with approximately 550 000 recoveries and 19 000 deaths.
Also read — Turning the tide? Four positives from Monday’s COVID-19 numbers
