‘Will this ever end?’: Mzansi reacts to South Africa’s deadliest Covid-19 day yet

Social media was flooded with messages fearing the worst and urging people to stay at home, after South Africa reported its highest number of Covid-19 deaths and new infections in a 24-hour period.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize announced on Wednesday that 844 deaths were recorded in the past 24 hours, along with 21,832 cases.

Of the deaths, 452 were in the Eastern Cape alone, as a result of “data reconciliation” dating between May and November 2020.

“This includes analysis of community cases where post-mortem swabs were taken for Covid testing and analysis of clinical records where the diagnosis was unconfirmed at the time of demise. The national department of health is engaging the province to investigate the details of the reporting backlog,” Mkhize explained.

The previous record for single-day deaths recorded was 572 on July 22. The previous daily high for new cases was 18,000 infections on December 31.

1,149,591 total infections and 31,368 Covid-19 related deaths have been recorded since the outbreak on our shores in March last year.

The latest increase in infections and deaths left many on social media worried, and soon Twitter timelines were filled with reaction to the news.

While some feared the pandemic would only get worse in South Africa, others slammed the report for including deaths from the backlog in the Eastern Cape, labelling it as “incompetent” and “fear mongering”.