Mediahack: Coronavirus Update: new cases top 13,000 for fourth day in a row in South Africa

[Jonathan R 1]

News release from Media Hack

19 July, 2020

We've updated the Coronavirus in South Africa dashboard to show the latest numbers. Confirmed cases have reached 364,328, up 13,449. For the fourth day in a row there have been more than 13,000 new cases. Covid-related deaths today topped 5,000 for the first time. In the past week 954 people have died of Covid-19-related illness. Gauteng has recorded more than 5,000 new cases a day for five straight days. The province has reached 133,617 confirmed cases, with 74,119 of them active. KwaZulu-Natal added 3,129 new confirmed cases today, bringing its total cases to 43,215. Its active cases have reached 31,744, putting it in second place after Gauteng, well ahead of the Eastern Cape (18,039) and the Western Cape (14,897).

Click here to view the full dashboard.

Quick overview

• Total infections: 364,328
• New infections since last update: 13,449
• Total deaths: 5,033
• Increase in deaths since last update: 85
• Total people recovered: 191,059
• Active cases:  168,236
• Province with the most confirmed cases: Gauteng has 133,617 (5,013 more than yesterday)
• Province with the most confirmed deaths: Western Cape 2,619 (up 26 from yesterday)
• Province with the most recoveries: Western Cape 68,410 (no change since yesterday)
• Total number of tests done: 2,471,747 (43.5% public sector, 56.5% private sector)

 

What's new

 

Excess deaths

The most recent addition to the dashboard are three charts depicting "excess deaths" during this pandemic. Put simply, excess deaths are the estimated number of deaths that exceed the number of deaths that would be expected if there had been no Covid-19 outbreak. The excess deaths have been estimated by the South African Medical Research Council. 

In the charts we indicate both the estimated excess deaths and the number of reported Covid-19 deaths for the same period (6 May - 7 July). The number of excess deaths are increasing steadily but not all of them can be accounted for by the reported Covid-19 deaths.

Click to view the new charts on the dashboard.

 

 

Active cases

Until the middle of June, the Western Cape had far more confirmed Covid-19 cases than any of the other provinces. But as increasing numbers of people in the province recovered, the number of active cases (total Covid-19 cases minus recoveries and deaths) dropped. Confirmed cases began to rise rapidly in Gauteng and quickly surpassed the Western Cape. By 7 July the Eastern Cape also had more active cases than the Western Cape, but it was soon overtaken by KwaZulu-Natal, which by 17 July had just under 27,000 active cases, 10,000 more than the Eastern Cape. Gauteng still has the highest number with 71,238 active cases.

Click the image below to watch.

 

Stay Informed

Q&A: State patients in private hospitals — what’s the deal?

Government hospitals are likely to run out of beds before the end of July. The national health department has negotiated agreements with the private healthcare sector for additional beds at set prices. But how does this work in practise? Bhekisisa asked Nicholas Crisp, one of the health department’s chief negotiators. Read more here

Also read: These health workers are more likely to die from Covid-19. Unions say not enough is being done to stop it.

 

Behind the Data

For more analysis of the the data behind the dashboard see our most recent posts: 

• Covid-19 in the Eastern Cape: a district-level breakdown
• Covid-19 in Gauteng: a district-level breakdown
• Covid-19: Making sense of "R"
• Covid-19 in Western Cape: a district level breakdown
• Data transparency is a crucial part of managing a pandemic, but we aren't seeing that yet
• What charts can and can't tell you about Covid-19
• Covid-19 in the provinces
• The relationship between Covid-19 tests and confirmed cases

 

The Coronavirus in South Africa dashboard and newsletter is a partnership between Media Hack Collective and Bhekisisa. Together we aim to keep you informed with quality news and information about the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa.

Tell us what you think

We'd love to hear from you. Send comments, suggestions, criticisms to data@mediahack.co.za 

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