UPDATE 1-South Africa COVID-19 cases surpass 300,000, says health ministry

(Updates cases figures)
By Tim Cocks
JOHANNESBURG, July 15 (Reuters) - South Africa's cases of
COVID-19 crossed 300,000 on Wednesday, the most in Africa and
among the 10 highest in the world.
Africa's most industrialised nation recorded a rise of
12,757 cases on Wednesday to reach 311,049 confirmed COVID-19
cases, its health ministry said in a late evening statement four
months since the first case was confirmed in the country.
South Africa has tested about 2.3 million people so far and
has had 4,453 deaths since March 27, the statement said.
President Cyril Ramaphosa put a lockdown into effect on
March 27, shutting shops, requiring people to stay at home and
sending the army on to the streets to enforce the measure when
South Africa had only 400 cases and no recorded deaths.
The government later eased many curbs over fears for its
struggling economy.
But with coronavirus cases increasing in the country of 58
million people, an exasperated Ramaphosa on Sunday re-imposed an
alcohol ban and a night curfew. "We are crossing the river by feeling our way across the
stones. Sometimes we put our feet on slippery stones and
sometimes on firm ones," Ramaphosa said on Wednesday during a
public address.
Charles Robertson, a senior economist at Renaissance
Capital, who has been closely tracking the coronavirus, said
South Africa's early action was impressive.
"What became clear is that lockdowns don't work in
low-income countries," he said. "In informal economies, (people)
... can't afford to stay at home."
About half of South Africans live in poverty, and about a
third are unemployed. Some 3 million have lost their jobs since
the lockdown began, according to a study by South Africa's
Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM) released on Tuesday.
In many parts of the country, COVID-19 wards are packed, so
patients are spilling into other departments and into tents
outside, health officials say.
"The storm that we have consistently warned South Africans
about is now arriving," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize told
parliament.
Despite rising cases, barely 1.5% of cases have proved fatal
so far, in part because of a young population. That will rise as
shortages of oxygen and hospital beds worsen. Ramaphosa said
scientists had predicted up to 50,000 deaths.
"We are seeing a system that's under pressure, not under
disaster collapse ... But it's taking a huge strain," Charl van
Loggerenberg, head of emergency medicine at Life Healthcare,
which has private hospitals treating COVID patients across the
country, told Reuters.
At public hospitals, which were struggling with capacity
anyway, medics have complained about a lack of staff and
protective equipment.
"Not enough health workers have been hired, our requests for
PPE have been ignored, guidelines are not being followed," said
Sibongiseni Delihlazo, spokesman for the main nurses' union.