The past seven weeks of lockdown has saved 1 752 lives - 35 people per day.

This was the calculation presented to the nation on Wednesday by President Cyril Ramaphosa in his first public address since 23 April.

He began with the plea that "despite its duration and severity, the lockdown we imposed was absolutely necessary". 

"Without the lockdown, the number of coronavirus infections would have soared uncontrollably. Our health facilities would have been overwhelmed and many thousands of South Africans would have died."

However, moments later, Ramaphosa appeared to give a different figure.

He said: "There have been several projections about the possible path the disease would have taken without our swift and decisive action.

"As more data has become available, these projections have been updated and refined. The best current estimate is that without the lockdown and other measures we have taken at least, they say, 80 000 South Africans could have been infected by now. And the death toll could have been at least eight times higher than what it is at the moment."

The current death toll was 219 which, multiplied by eight, totalled 1 752 lives saved, according to the president's data.

Ramaphosa added: "This coronavirus is taking a heavy toll not only on the health of our people but also our people's ability to earn a living, to feed themselves and their families to learn and develop - and enjoy many of the basic freedoms that we take for granted."

Ramaphosa said South Africa had managed to keep its level of infections down to 181 per million of the population.

"By contrast, countries like the United States, the United Kingdom, Spain, Italy and Singapore have between 2 400 and 4 600 coronavirus cases per million people."

Thus far, around one third of the confirmed cases in RSA had recovered – 4 745 out of 12 074.

"In all, our field workers have now screened over 9 million people, and we have conducted nearly 370,000 coronavirus tests. This is the largest and most extensive public health mobilisation in the history of our country," Ramaphosa said. 

The President added that the "lockdown" had bought time to prepare – including nearly 25 000 additional beds available for quarantine.

"It has been made possible by the hard work and dedication of thousands of community workers, nurses, doctors and other health workers. They made enormous sacrifices to ensure the success of the lockdown.

"By answering the call to stay at home and stay safe, you, the people of South Africa, have helped us to save many lives," Ramaphosa said.

Watch Ramaphosa's announcement: