Staff Reporter
At least 61 people have recovered from COVID-19 in the Free State, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced.
Addressing journalists in Pietermaritzburg this Friday, Mkhize said a total of 410 people have recovered from the disease in South Africa.
“Our health workers are fighting in a heroic way and the number of recoveries is 410 people,” he said.
Mkhize said 24 people have died of the disease in the country, with the number of deaths in the Free State remaining at three.
South Africa’s confirmed number coronavirus cases has risen to 2003 after an increase of 69 cases from the 1 934 reported yesterday.
The Free State has 94 cases and Gauteng has the highest at 801, while the Western Cape has 541 and KwaZulu-Natal 412.
Mkhize said 73 028 tests have been conducted in the country and 13 488 tracers were out on the field.
He said 10 652 people — believed to have come into contact with those who had tested positive to COVID-19 — have been traced and many have already been tracked down.
“Contact tracing is important. We need to go around them to test. We need to scale up the screening of patients in various communities,” the minister said.
He said a total of 45 6074 people have been screened across provinces to date.
“We want to call on everyone to cooperate with the screening processes. Contact tracing, screening and test referring will be our strongest way going forward,” Mkhize said.
He suggested the country should embrace a new culture of social distancing with no hugs, kissing or shaking of hands.
Mkhize also recommended the use of cloth masks on a wider scale saying individuals can make their own masks.
He however said there was no need for everyone to wear the surgical or N95 masks as they should be reserved for the frontline workers treating patients.