This article was first published on https://ewn.co.za

Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said that South Africa was experiencing a second wave of COVID-19.

Speaking in a virtual address, the minister said that the number of infections had increased around the country, with a significant increase over the past 24 hours of 6,079 infections.

“It’s important to highlight that today we have breached the 6,000 mark in terms of new cases and the total number of new cases identified as 6,079, which gives us a total of 828,592 of cumulative cases today.”

He said that most provinces were showing an increase.

“The Western Cape, Eastern Cape, KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng are the key drivers of this new wave.”

The minister said that there was a positivity rate of 10% but this had now changed.

“As of today, the rate is now at 18% but if you go province-by-province, you actually find that some provinces are much higher than the 18% and therefore the 18% is the average for the whole country. That increase is an indication that we have moved from the time that we were at 10%.”

Minister Mkhize said that the infection rate was set to rise substantially.

“This rise is showing that there is going to be exponential growth and that means we must expect faster rising numbers with a possible higher peak than the first wave.”