Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has announced that COVID-19 has claimed two more lives, bringing the total number of deaths to seven in the country.

Mkhize also says that the number of patients who have tested positive has risen to 1,505.

This is an increase of 43 cases from Thursday’s announcement of 1462.

Mkhize was briefing the nation from the Khayelitsha Hospital in the Western Cape on Friday afternoon.

“We would like to convey our condolences to the families and friends of these individuals. We would also like to thank the health workers who are working tirelessly every day.”

Mkhize says they must address the shortage of beds in health facilities.

“We should be able to augment the current existing capacity so that when the number of people who need to be admitted start to increase than it becomes easy just to move on, because as I said early the number that we have seen of people who are infected is being delayed by some of the impact of the lockdown.”

Mkhize says they are going to rollout testing in priority areas and are ready to give additional support and re-enforcement to the areas that need assistance.

Faizel Patel

(Twitter: @FaizelPatel143)