South Africa's Covid-19 cases rise amid warning of more related deaths

CAPE TOWN

South Africa reported 2,801 confirmed Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours amid warning of more related deaths in coming days, the Health Ministry said early Wednesday.

With the new cases, the total number of cases rose to 76,334, the ministry said in its latest update.

Fifty-seven more people have died after contracting the coronavirus, bringing the death toll to 1,625, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, Heath Minister Zweli Mkhize warned that the country would see more deaths related to Covid-19 in the coming days as infections surge.

BEHAVIOURAL CHANGES

At a visual press briefing jointly hosted with Social Development Minister Lindiwe Zulu, he said that prevention efforts should involve individual behavioural changes, urging South Africans to do their part in curbing the spread of the pandemic.

The two ministers launched a new multi-sectoral ministerial advisory committee tasked to oversee social behavioural change and facilitate fair access to quality healthcare.

Behavioural change requires citizens to get used to wearing masks, washing hands and maintaining physical distance, Mkhize said.

"It needs the entire buy-in of individuals, communities, societies, cultures and various social groupings," he said.

To deal with the virus, it was no longer about what the government says, but about each individual, Mkhize said.

Since the outbreak in the country in early March, collective discipline and cooperation have allowed South Africa to flatten the curve, push the peak out by a few months, save lives and balance its resources, said the minister.