{"id":409765,"date":"2020-06-22T22:03:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T20:03:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=409765"},"modified":"2020-06-22T22:13:10","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T20:13:10","slug":"101590-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-in-south-africa-as-deaths-climb-to-1991","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/409765\/101590-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-in-south-africa-as-deaths-climb-to-1991\/","title":{"rendered":"101,590 confirmed coronavirus cases in South Africa as deaths climb to 1,991"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Minister of health Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that there are now 101,590 total cases of coronavirus in South Africa.<\/p>\n<p>This is an increase of 4,288 cases from 97,302 cases reported on Sunday, while a record 24-hour increase of 4,966 infections was reported on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>The minister announced 61 new Covid-19 related deaths, taking the total up to 1,991, and a mortality rate of 2%, while recoveries increased to 53,130, which translates to a recovery rate of 52.6%.<\/p>\n<p>A total of 1.35 million tests have been conducted to date, with 25,116 tests conducted over the past 24 hours, Dr Mkhize said.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">As of today, the cumulative number of confirmed <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/COVID19?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#COVID19<\/a> cases has breached the 100 000 mark, at 101 590.The total number of deaths is 1 991 and the total number of recoveries is 53 130. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yYsE3L5URT\">pic.twitter.com\/yYsE3L5URT<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1275156517369581568?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">June 22, 2020<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\nGlobally, since 31 December 2019 and as of 22 June 2020, 9 million cases of Covid-19 have been reported, including in excess of 471,000 deaths, and 4.86 million recoveries.<\/p>\n<p>Reusable products are safe to use even during the coronavirus pandemic as long as basic hygiene practices are employed, Bloomberg reported.<\/p>\n<p>Single-use plastic is not inherently safer than reusable products as the virus can remain infectious on both surfaces for varying time, Greenpeace said in a statement endorsed by over 100 health experts around the globe.<\/p>\n<p>Either reusable or disposable, they can be cleaned with widely used household disinfectants, such as soap and detergent, it said.<\/p>\n<p>Concern over virus transmission has spurred consumption of single-use plastic products globally, including personal protective gear, medical equipment and delivery packaging.<\/p>\n<p>The resurgence in the use of disposable materials will have negative impact on the environment and undermine years-long global efforts to curb plastic pollution, according to Greenpeace.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Job losses<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>President Cyril Ramaphosa says that South Africa faces a difficult road ahead following the outbreak of Covid-19, and has called for the country\u2019s citizens to be realistic about future prospects \u2013 especially about the time it will take for the economy to recover.<\/p>\n<p>The president said in his weekly <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mailchi.mp\/presidency.gov.za\/from-the-desk-of-the-president-monday-22-june-2020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">open letter<\/a><\/strong> to the public, that the economy is now \u2018in the throes of the anticipated fallout from this global crisis\u2019 and that the predictions of businesses shutting down and jobs being lost are materialising.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast week, a number of companies announced plans to retrench staff. From aviation to construction, from entertainment and leisure to hospitality, companies have indicated their intention to retrench staff because of heavy losses incurred over the past three months.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn other cases, businesses are closing permanently. Small businesses whose turnover has been wiped out will be even harder hit.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Ramaphosa pointed out that South Africa is not alone in this regard and that a number of countries are now facing a \u2018job loss tsunami\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that Italy, the UK, the US, Germany, India, China and nearly every country that had imposed some form of lockdown have recorded job losses or hours of workers reduced.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor a country such as ours, which was already facing an unemployment crisis and weak economic growth, difficult decisions and difficult days lie ahead,\u201d Ramaphosa said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe would urge that the difficult decisions to be taken are taken with care and with due regard to balancing the sustainability of companies and the livelihoods of workers.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It is important that whatever is done is underpinned by ensuring a just transition to all concerned.\u201d<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Read: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/409611\/more-south-african-businesses-can-now-open-but-its-not-that-simple\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">More South African businesses can now open \u2013 but it\u2019s not that simple<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Minister of health Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that there are now 101,590 total cases of coronavirus in South Africa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":390209,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-409765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=409765"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":409783,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/409765\/revisions\/409783"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390209"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=409765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=409765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=409765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}