As President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a downgrade to Level 3 lockdown restrictions on Sunday evening, the Covid-19 infection rate continued to climb.

Ramaphosa announced that there were now 22 583 infections, with 429 deaths after 22 more people had lost their lives due to the virus.

He said a total of 583 855 tests had been conducted, with 19 485 tests done in past 24-hour testing cycle.

“We wish to express our condolences to the loved ones of the deceased and thank the healthcare workers who treated these patients,” Ramaphosa said.

The most deaths have been recorded in the Western Cape, which now stands at 281.

The Eastern Cape has 59 deaths, followed by KwaZulu-Natal 49 and Gauteng 29.

The most infections are in the Western Cape, with 14 740, making up 65.3% of all infections.

There are 2 773 confirmed cases in Gauteng, making up 12.3% of cases nationally, followed by the Eastern Cape 2 690 and KwaZulu-Natal 1 815 cases.

Hotspot focus

Ramaphosa listed a number of hotspots the government will be focused on as the fight against the pandemic intensifies.

These hotspots include Tshwane, Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, eThekwini, Nelson Mandela Bay, Buffalo City and Cape Town. Also, the West Coast, Overberg and Cape Winelands districts in the Western Cape, the Chris Hani district in the Eastern Cape and the iLembe district in KZN.

He said hotspots would be linked to testing services, isolation facilities, quarantine facilities, treatment, hospital beds and contact tracing.

Ramaphosa warned that Level 3 could be revoked if an area should worsen.

“Should it be necessary, any part of the country could be returned to alert Levels 4 or 5 if the spread of infection is not contained despite our interventions and there is a risk of our health facilities being overwhelmed.”

He further stated that hotspots would be reviewed every two weeks.

There would also be enhanced surveillance and infection control and a full-time team of experts assigned to hotspots.