The National Institute for Communicable Diseases, a division of the National Health Laboratory Service along with the National Department of Health, is actively cleaning COVID-19 patient data to ensure that the information shared with the public is transparent, consistent and correct. Data cleaning is required to deduplicate and to correct details in order to determine the most effective public health response.
As such, figures may not always add up sequentially due to the activities being performed with regard to data cleaning and quality assurance of the dataset. As of March 28, 2020, the number of COVID-19 cases increased by 112 bringing the total number of confirmed COVID-19 cases to 1187.
Table: Number of laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases by province.
| Province | Total cases as at 28 March 2020 00:00 |
| Eastern Cape | 10 |
| Free State | 68 |
| Gauteng | 533 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 156 |
| Limpopo | 11 |
| Mpumalanga | 10 |
| North West | 6 |
| Northern Cape | 5 |
| Western Cape | 271 |
| Not reported | 115 |
| Total | 1187 |
It is important that when going for a laboratory test that the correct address and contact number is included so that we can determine the burden of disease per district and to focus our attention and resources on the appropriate response
We recognise the work done by healthcare professionals in the private and public health sectors as well as the measures put in place by the government to curb the further spread of the virus. However, we wish to remind the public that change is in the hand of every South African to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
There are three key things everyone should do:
- Practice good hygiene. That means washing your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds, with soap and water, including before and after eating, and after going to the toilet. It is vital that people cough and sneeze into a tissue or a flexed elbow, and discard the tissue into a bin after use.
- Secondly, everyone should be practising social/physical distancing. People should remain at home unless it is essential to go elsewhere, and when in public, keep at least 2 metres away from others.
- If people have been infected with COVID-19 is imperative that they self-isolate for 14 days and report any deterioration of symptoms to your doctor
- If anyone has been in close contact with a case please self-isolate and check temperature daily, if any symptoms develop please contact your doctor
We reassure South Africans that we are actively tracking trends of COVID-19 – both domestically and abroad – and adjusting our interventions to reduce the spread of the virus.
