S.Africa: COVID-19 cases top 70,000, deaths at 1,480

South Africa saw a massive jump in coronavirus infections in the past 24 hours, with 4,302 cases recorded, bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country to 70,038.

Zweli Mkhize, South Africa’s health minister, also said in a statement that 57 more COVID-19 deaths had been recorded, bring the total fatalities to 1,480 with a mortality rate of 2.2%.

Despite the high numbers of cases and deaths, health experts continue to applaud South Africa’s mass testing campaign.

South Africa has so far tested 1.12 million people for COVID-19, with 34,071 tests done over the weekend.

“The recoveries to date are 38,531, this translates to a recovery rate of 55%,” Mkhize said

The Western Cape Province, which is a tourism hub, remains the country’s epicenter of the virus, reporting a high number of cases and deaths daily.