The total number of tests conducted to date is 230 686, of which 13 164 were done in the last 24 hours. This is the highest number of tests done in a 24 hour cycle to date.

The Provincial Breakdown is as follows:
Province Cases
Eastern Cape                     732
Free State                         121
Gauteng                           1598
KwaZulu Natal                   1051
Limpopo                           36
Mpumalanga                     40
North West                       35
Northen Cape                   23
Western Cape                  2700
Total                               6336

Reported Deaths, Recoveries and Comments:

Regrettably, we are saddened to report a further 7 COVID-19 related deaths from the Western Cape and Free State. This brings the total number of deaths to 123 We wish to express our condolences to the families of the deceased and salute the health care workers who treated the deceased patients.

We are however pleased to report that the number of recoveries now stands at 2549

Below is the Provincial Breakdown of Deaths and Recoveries

We have also begun to study the deaths to begin to elucidate patterns and areas of high risk. We have observed the following:

Distribution of Deaths by Gender:
Province                   - Deaths                   - Recoveries
Eastern Cape                 13                       - 275
Free State                     6                         - 96
Gauteng                       12                        - 948
KwaZulu Natal               34                       - 375
Limpopo                       2                         - 25
Mpumalanga                 0                         - 18
North West                   0                         - 20
Northen Cape               0                          - 13
Western Cape               56                        - 779
Total                           123                       - 2549

Male (%)         - Female (%)         - Total
71 (58%)        - 52       (42%)       - 123

Distribution of Deaths by Age:

Age                            - Deaths (%)
0-9                             - 0 (0%)
10-19                         -  0 (0%)
20-29                         - 1 (0.8%)
30-39                         - 6 (4.9%)
40-49                         - 19 (15.5%)
50-59                         - 23 (18.7%)
60-69                         - 30 (24.4%)
70-79                         - 28 (22.7%)
80-89                         - 14 (11.4%)
90-99                         - 2 ( 1.6%)
                                  123  (100)

The median age of patients who died was 64 .

Co-morbidities

We have looked at the data for patients who have been hospitalized and found that, consistent with evidence emerging worldwide, hypertension, diabetes and cardiac disease are the three most common co-morbidities associated with serious illness from COVID-19.

Other co-morbidities that were seen amongst COVID-19 admitted patients were chronic pulmonary disease, asthma, chronic renal disease, malignancy, HIV, active and past tuberculosis.

I would therefore like to urge our millions of South Africans who are over 63 years of age and those who live with these conditions to take extra precaution as we ease the lockdown.

I would also like to urge all South Africans to continue to stay at home as far as possible, only venturing out to perform essential tasks as we move through the stages of the gradual lifting of lockdown.