COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa
The COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa is part of the ongoing pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 () caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (). On 5 March 2020, Minister of Health Zweli Mkhize confirmed the spread of the virus to South Africa, with the first known patient being a male citizen who tested positive upon his return from Italy. The first death to have occurred from the disease was reported on 27 March 2020.

On 15 March 2020, the President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, declared a national state of disaster, and announced measures such as immediate travel restrictions and the closure of schools from 18 March. On 17 March, the "National Coronavirus Command Council" was established, "to lead the nation's plan to contain the spread and mitigate the negative impact of the coronavirus". On 23 March, a national lockdown was announced, starting on 27 March 2020. On 21 April, a 500 billion rand stimulus was announced in response to the pandemic. Ramaphosa announced that from 1 May 2020, a gradual and phased easing of the lockdown restrictions would begin, lowering the national alert level to 4. From 1 June, the national restrictions were lowered to level 3. The restrictions were lowered to alert level 2 on 17 August 2020. From 21 September 2020, restrictions were lowered to alert level 1. 

In December 2020, the country experienced a second wave of COVID-19 infections. The lockdown was tightened from an adjusted level 1 to an adjusted level 3 starting on 29 December 2020. The lockdown was lowered from an adjusted level 3 to an adjusted level 1 starting on 1 March 2021. On 17 February 2021, the national COVID-19 vaccination program was officially rolled out. 

On 8 May 2021, local cases of variants of concern Delta (first detected in India, which has a higher transmissibility and reduced neutralisation than South Africa's dominant variant, Beta) and Alpha (first detected in the UK, which has a higher transmissibility and is more lethal than South Africa's dominant variant, Beta) were reported. On 31 May 2021 the country was moved from adjusted level 1 to an adjusted alert level 2, due to a third wave of infections. On 15 June 2021 the country was moved to alert level 3. On 28 June 2021, the country was moved to adjusted level 4, with the Delta variant fast becoming the dominant strain in the country.

As of June 2021, South Africa has the highest number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Africa and the nineteenth highest number of confirmed infections worldwide.

 there have been excess deaths of persons older than 1 years from natural causes since 3 May 2020, with 85-95% of these excess deaths attributable to COVID-19, and the remaining 5-15% probably mainly due to overwhelming of the health services.
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