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JOHANNESBURG, 27 dec. (Reuters) – Total coronavirus infections in South Africa since the first case in March exceeded one million on Sunday, its health ministry said just days after a new, faster-spread variant was confirmed to be present. in the country.
The bleak benchmark comes nine days after the country, the worst affected in Africa, reported 900,000 cases. The country took two weeks to reach 900,000 of the 800,000 seen in early December.
Several hospitals and health centers have reported that wards are overflowing with patients with many health care workers canceling their vacations to address a huge influx of patients.
Mediclinic International Plc, among the top three private hospital networks in the country, said on Sunday that a severe increase in cases has put a lot of pressure on available healthcare resources, including staff, equipment and beds, to provide intensive care to critically ill patients. ill.
“The number of patients seeking care in our hospitals has exceeded the previous number during the first peak and most of our intensive care and healthcare units are operating at capacity,” the company said, referring to Western Cape Province.
The new variant, called 501.V2, was discovered by a network of scientists in South Africa who followed the genetics of the virus. The variant seems to be concentrated in the south and south-east of the country and dominates the findings from the samples collected in October, they say.
The Coronavirus Board of Governors, the main government body monitoring the disease, met on Sunday to decide whether additional measures should be imposed, such as stricter blockages or stricter rules on public traffic, according to local media News24.
“Today, we violated one million cumulative cases of COVID-19 in South Africa, with a cumulative total of 1,004,413 reported cases,” the ministry said in a statement late Sunday.
The total number of deaths reached 26,735.
For interactive graphics, click tmsnrt.rs/2Kx1cMO
The number of daily increase in infections has already exceeded the peak in July, when the cases exceeded only 14,000. The daily infections since December 25 were the largest so far, with 14,796 cases.
Since the new variant was announced, several countries have canceled flights to the country, hitting the already crushed tourism and travel sector.
Report by Promit Mukherjee; Montage by Alison Williams