Johannesburg – South Africa’s department of health recorded 8725 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
This now takes the culminative number of Covid-19 cases in the country to 901538.
The department also said that there have been 274 new Covid-19 related deaths, taking the death toll in SA to 24 285.
18 December 2020 #COVID19 statistics in South Africa #CoronaVirusSA pic.twitter.com/ZcLhzMr8oe
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) December 18, 2020
Beach bans, South Africans flock to rivers and dams
This week President Ramaphosa announced government’s decision to bar public access to Eastern Cape beaches between 16 December 2020 and 3 January 2021.
Access to KwaZulu-Natal’s Durban beaches is also prohibited on busy public holidays until the first week of January 2021.
The Department of Water and Sanitation has warned South Africans against flocking to the country’s dams and rivers as an alternative to the beaches, following a government ban on the use of some of the beaches to minimize the impact of COVID-19.
“Traditionally, the festive season is notorious for drownings as most people take to swimming in water facilities, including swimming pools, to cool their bodies on hot summer days,” departmental spokesperson Sputnik Ratau said in a statement.
Ratau added that the months of September and October are often characterised by scorching heat waves, forcing many South Africans to resort to swimming in water facilities to deal with high temperatures.
“Unfortunately, this has often resulted in increased numbers of fatal drownings, especially among the youth and children.”
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