On day five of the 21 day lockdown in South Africa, government confirmed that there have been five reported deaths due to COVID-19.
The number of confirmed cases has now risen to 1 353.
The Minister of Health, Dr Zweli Mkhize, made these updates at a media briefing in eThekweni on Tuesday.
The first recorded death was a 48-year-old woman in the Western Cape, with the second being an 85-year-old from the Free State.
The third death was a Gauteng man, who succumbed to respiratory distress two days ago and the two latest deaths have also been recorded in KwaZulu-Natal – a 74-year-old man in Ladysmith and a 46-year-old woman with chronic asthma and hypertension.
Government has confirmed that the country has conducted 39 500 tests, with some of the testing taking place in townships such as Alexandra, north of Joburg.
Mkhize said government planned on escalating the testing and screening of patients.
“We are converting teams from NGOs to assist with testing. We have decided to be targeted. We will go for hot spots. We had a defensive approach but now we will go into areas where the virus is spreading,” Mkhize said.
