MAPPED | SA’s 14 Covid-19 hotspots – and the areas emerging as new hotspots
by Kyle CowanThe number of Covid-19 hotspots has risen to 14, as seven new districts have shown higher numbers of coronavirus cases, leading to them being reclassified by the Department of Health.
Last week, News24 reported that the City of Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni metro in Gauteng, eThekwini metro and iLembe District in KwaZulu-Natal, Buffalo City and Nelson Mandela Bay metros in the Eastern Cape, as well as the Cape Town City metro and the Cape Winelands district in the Western Cape have the highest number of Covid-19 infections in the country.
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They are now joined by Mangaung metro in the Free State, Oliver Tambo and Chris Hani district municipalities in the Eastern Cape, as well as the Overberg, Garden Route and West Coast district municipalities in the Western Cape.
The Western Cape remains the hardest-hit province in the country, accounting for 16 893 cases of a total of 25 937 nationally, as of Wednesday.
To be classified as a hotspot, the area needs to show more than five average active cases per 100 000 of the population, according to the Department of Health.
The latest classifications, calculated using the number of average active cases daily between 16 and 22 May, was shared with Parliament by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday.
Districts previously identified as hotspots have seen a marked rise in active cases, and Mkhize identified several new districts as emerging hotspots, which are mapped here:
Testing
Mkhize also provided updated testing figures by province.
Utilising StatsSA’s 2019 mid-year population estimates, the number of tests per 100 000 people was calculated for each province.
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The Western Cape was still conducting, as of 24 May, the highest number of tests per 100 000 people, at 1 990, followed by Gauteng at 1 296.
The number of tests per 100 000 of the population is mapped here:
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