London, June 15, 2020 (AltAfrica)-South Africa’s confirmed Covid-19 cases increased by 4 300 new infections on Sunday, the Ministry of Health says.

The country also recorded a further 57 more deaths

This has taken the total number of cases to 70, 038. The death toll now sits at 1 480.

READ ALSO: NEW RESEARCH SHEDS LIGHT ON CAUSES OF UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY

But the more worrisome is that coronavirus cases in the country are skyrocketing in the last three days recording over 10,000 cases of the deadly virus

 As at Friday, June 12, South Africa had 3359 new cases taking confirmed positive cases since March to 61 927. Total Covid-19 deaths was 1354. 

But on Saturday, the figure jumped by 3 811 to 65 736. The country also recorded a further 69 Covid-19-related deaths taking the total fatalities as at Saturday to 1 429

But with additional 4 300 new infections on Sunday, means South Africa has recorded a whopping ten thousand plus cases in just three day

The Western Cape makes up about 60% of the total number of cases, with 42 539. Gauteng has 11 164, and the Eastern Cape 10 027.

There have been 1 121 958 tests conducted so far. A total of 38 531 people have recovered from the virus, translating to a recovery rate of 55%

 South Africa has over 60 000 confirmed cases and over 1350 deaths, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced

This is an increase of 3359 cases, taking confirmed positive cases since March to 61 927. Total Covid-19 deaths now sit on 1354. 

Meanwhile, a senior member of the Covid-19 Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC) has accused the country’s health leadership of refusing to change its mass testing strategy in the face of serious resource constraints and a large testing backlog, even though scientists have repeatedly advised that an urgent rethink is needed.

Professor Francois Venter, head of the Ezintsha health unit at the University of the Witwatersrand and a member of the MAC, says he and other scientists cannot fathom why health authorities are sticking to a testing strategy which is not producing the necessary results.

Until now, the Covid-19 strategy – defended by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize in an interview on Friday – involves testing patients referred from a mass screening programme, which has seen more than 180 000 people referred for Covid-19 tests so far.

According to Mkhize, this has enabled the department to identify hotspots which would now be targeted with more resources, including priority testing.

But Venter and others have for weeks argued that, due to severe resource constraints, leading to low turnaround times from sample collection to results, tests should be reserved for hospitalised patients and healthcare workers.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the average turnaround time for tests is now around nine days, up from two days in April.

“The turnaround times (for tests) remain a disaster. We (scientists) have told them repeatedly to throw away the medical waste and prioritise. We’ve been saying this for weeks,” Venter told News24