South Africa has 141 new COVID-19 cases bringing the total number to 4 361 as of Saturday, with seven new deaths reported.
Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize, said the total number of tests conducted to date is 161 004, of which 8 614 were done in the last 24 hours.
“Today we are saddened to report seven more deaths, making the total number of deaths 86. The new deaths are from the Eastern Cape – four, Western Cape – two and Limpopo – one.”
The provincial breakdown of COVID-19 cases is as follows:
Gauteng: 1 304
Western Cape: 1 514
KwaZulu-Natal: 847
Eastern Cape: 488
Free State: 111
Limpopo: 30
North West: 28
Mpumalanga: 23
Northern Cape: 16
Unallocated: 0
World Malaria Day
Minister Mkhize also commemorated World Malaria Day, today, reminding South Africans that they support the worldwide campaign “Zero Malaria Starts With Me”.
“We are mindful that while we put our efforts in fighting the COVID-19, we dare not lose sight of our determination to fight against malaria.”
He said this requires everyone to be vigilant as they continue to contend with the communicable and non-communicable diseases.
The World Health Organisation has made an all-important call to minimize disruptions to malaria prevention and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic. According to the WHO modeling analysis, failure to do this could undo the strides that have already been achieved and lead to doubling of malaria cases this year as compared to 2018.
The Minister said many of the policies applied for COVID-19 were lessons drawn from the campaign to eliminate malaria by 2023: community screening and testing; the rollout of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying at community levels; multisectoral and multinational co-operation for malaria prevention and treatment tools are all strategies that have been adopted and modified for the accelerated and concerted global effort against COVID-19.
“We therefore echo the call to keep our eyes on the prize of eliminating malaria by 2023, as contemplated in the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan for 2019-2023.” – SAnews.gov.za
