Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday said the latest seven coronavirus (COVID-19) deaths reported in the country involved cases where officials went back to determine if the patients had contracted the virus.
The minister confirmed these patients brought the national death toll to 34, while at least 2, 506 people were infected with coronavirus.
Mkhize said the cases involved patients who had underlying conditions and dated back to 9 April.
“Some of the people go in and get admitted as not being seen as COVID-19 infected patients, but as they get treated, tests can be done and sometimes when we look at them we realise that we need to get more information on them,” he said.
He said they wanted to make sure about the cause of death in these cases.
“In this case, we have actually been looking back on a number of deaths that went unreported in the past few days simply because there’s a need to thoroughly investigate,” Mkhize said.
Of the seven new deaths, six were in KwaZulu-Natal and one in Gauteng.
For official information about COVID-19 from the Department of Health, please click here.