Cape Town – South Africa has recorded 1 567 new Covid-19 cases (1 677 on Monday), for a cumulative total of 613 017 cases, said Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday.
A total of 149 more Covid-19-related deaths have been recorded (100 yesterday): 54 from Gauteng, 35 from KwaZulu-Natal, 16 from Mpumalanga, 10 from the Northern Cape, 16 from the Eastern Cape and 18 from the Western Cape.
This brings the total number of Covid-19-related deaths to 13 308. The country’s recoveries now stand at 520 381, which translates to a recovery rate of 84%.
The total number of tests conducted to date is 3 578 836, with 12 237 new tests conducted since the last report.
According to Gauteng Health Department data released on Tuesday, the Chris Hani-Baragwanath Academic Hospital in Soweto had 2 797 emergency cases in April and May, compared with 5 163 cases for the same period last year.
In July, the facility recorded 1 326 emergencies, compared with 2 363 for the same month in 2019.
The Dr George Mukhari Academic Hospital in Tshwane had 4 614 emergency cases in April and May, compared with 7 583 for the same period last year.
Meanwhile, in a comprehensive study of Covid-19 paediatric patients by the Massachusetts General Hospital and Mass General Hospital for Children in the US, researchers found that children may play a larger role in community transmission of the virus than initially thought.
The research team analysed the viral load, immune response and hyper-inflammation in 192 paediatric patients between the ages of 0–22. Their paper was published in the Journal of Pediatrics.
Of the total 192 patients, 49 tested positive for SARS-CoV-2, while an additional 18 were found to have late-onset, Covid-19-related illness.
A significantly higher level of virus was also found in the airways of the infected children, compared to hospitalised adults in intensive-care units for Covid-19 treatment.
"I was surprised by the high levels of virus we found in children of all ages, especially in the first two days of infection," said Lael Yonker, lead author of the study.
IOL