The South African Minister of Health has announced 143 new confirmed cases taking the national tally of confirmed cases to 2415 from a previously recorded 2272 on Monday. Tests conducted nationally are now more than 87 00, with the number anticipated to continue on rising.

These statistics follow after Professor Karim, one of the country’s leading epidemiologist and infectious diseases specialists and the chairperson for the COVID-19 ministerial advisory committee highlighted that the country’s epicentres still remain as Johannesburg, Cape Town and Durban.

The Health Minister stated that so far over 4000 people have been referred for further testing due to the extensive screening practice that is currently taking place nationally. Over 10 000 tracers have been tasked with tracking down persons with confirmed cases to ensure that the necessary procedures and further tests are conducted on them.

Internationally, the latest number of confirmed cases is around 1.9 million with just over 120 000 deaths and 460 recoveries. South Africa’s death toll due to the virus now stands at 27.