South Africa’s numbers of COVID-19 are “rising fast,” according to President Cyril Ramaphosa, who says that he’s worried.
More than half of South Africa’s more than 48,000 confirmed cases have been recorded in the last two weeks, prompting concerns that Africa’s most developed economy is about to see a steep rise in infections. South Africa has the most cases in Africa, whose 54 countries have reported more than 184,000 cases including more than 5,000 deaths, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
South Africa, with a population of 57 million people, expects to see the COVID-19 deaths climb above 1,000 soon, Ramaphosa wrote Monday in his weekly letter to the nation.
“Like many South Africans, I, too, have been worried as I watch these figures keep rising,” Ramaphosa wrote.
“While these numbers are broadly in line with what the various models had projected, there is a big difference between looking at a graph on a piece of paper and seeing real people becoming infected, some getting ill and some dying,” he wrote.
Even as South Africa braces for increased cases and rising numbers of those hospitalized, the country is easing many restrictions of its 10-week-old lockdown.