Staff Reporter
The latest person to die from COVID-19 complications in the Free State is an 86-year-old-woman from Bethulie in the Xhariep district, the provincial health department has confirmed.
The woman, who died Wednesday, becoming the second person from the same district to succumb to the disease, is said to be a contact of the first case in the area.
Provincial health spokesperson Mondli Mvambi told The Free Stater that the woman did not have any known underlying health challenges.
“She is linked as a contact to the index case of Bethulie in Xhariep that died,” Mvambi said.
“The 86-year-old deceased was admitted at Universitas Hospital and died yesterday, June 3, 2020. There were no known comorbidities,” he explained.
The first person to die from COVID-19 in Bethulie was a 57-year-old man who worked at Bloemwater.
The man, who died last month, did not have any comorbidities as well and was admitted at Mediclinic where he eventually lost his life.
The Free State now has a total of 314 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 152 recoveries and nine deaths.
This leaves the province with 153 active cases.
At least 1 984 303 people have be screened in the Free State and 29 907 have been tested.
The province has successfully traced 4 189 of the 4 273 known contacts.
South Africa’s total number of cases rose by 3 267 in the last 24 hours to 40 792.
About 21 311 people have recovered.
However, 56 more deaths have been recorded, 54 of which are from the Western Cape, the country’s epicentre.
The national death toll has now reached 848.