By NewsDesk @infectiousdiseasenews
South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported an additional 218 lab confirmed COVID-19 cases Thursday, bringing the country total to 927. Gauteng (409), Western Cape (229) and Kwazulu-Natal (134) provinces have reported the most cases. In addition, South Africa is currently reporting the most cases on the continent.
Two deaths have been reported.
As the country approaches the national lockdown period of 21 days as declared by President Cyril Ramaphosa, they remind everyone that human behavior is essential to preventing the spread of the virus.
Social distancing is one of the main steps that we are currently proposing to add to South Africa’s capacity to significantly restrict COVID-19 transmission, among other interventions such as diligent hand hygiene and correct cough etiquette. The application of such preventive measures will need to continue after the 21 days, because the short-term implementation of exceptional steps (for a three-week period) would delay the rise in cases and does not necessarily produce long-term curve flattening.
Elsewhere in Africa, of the 54 countries in the continent, 43 have reported cases. Besides South Africa, Egypt (495), Algeria (367), Morocco (275) and Tunisia (227) have reported the most. Algeria and Egypt have reported the most deaths with 25 and 24, respectively.
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