As at today, the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in South Africa is 4 361.

The total number of tests conducted to date is 161 004. of which 8 614 were done in the last 24 hours.

The provincial breakdown is as follows:

Reporting of Deaths

Today we are saddened to report 7 more deaths, making the total number of deaths 86. The

new deaths are from the following provinces:

Eastern Cape: 4
Western Cape: 2
Limpopo: 1

World Malaria Day

Today we commemorate World Malaria Day and as South Africa we support the worldwide campaign **Zero Malaria Starts With Me". We are mindful that while we put our efforts in fighting the COVID-19, we dare not lose sight of our determination to fight against malaria. This requires us to be vigilant as we continue to contend with communicable and non communicable diseases.

The World Health Organisation has made an all important call to minimize disruptions to malaria prevention and treatment services during the COVID-19 pandemic. Failure to do this could undo the strides that have already been achieved and lead to doubling of malaria cases this year as compared to 2018, according to WHO modeling analysis.

Indeed many of the policies applied for COVID-19 were lessons drawn from the campaign to eliminate malaria by 2023: community screening and testing; the rollout of insecticide-treated nets and indoor residual spraying at community levels; multisectoral and multinational co-operation for Malaria prevention and treatment tools are all strategies that have been adopted and modified for the accelerated and concerted global effort against COVID-19.

We therefore echo the call to keep our eyes on the prize of eliminating malaria by 2023, as contemplated in the National Malaria Elimination Strategic Plan for 2019-2023.

Dr Zwelini Mkhize
Minister of Health