Yesterday saw one of the lowest recorded number of new daily infections, according to the National Department of Health (NDoH) and the latest report also sees a relatively low number being recorded. 998 new cases to be precise, but as the week progresses it will be interesting to see how that figure fluctuates as we continue to fight the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa.

Following the latest report, the total number of infections for the country to date now sits at 1 505 586, with more than 8.93 million tests having been conducted so far. The NDoH also confirms that 1 419 459 recoveries have been recorded, pushing the recovery rate to 94 percent.

The department has added a new metric to its daily infographic report as well, highlighting how many vaccines have been administered. That figure stands at 32 315, with an estimated 80 000 secured from Johnson & Johnson earlier in the month.

It’s unclear when the next batch will arrive in country, but hopefully it is soon, so no momentum in inoculating healthcare workers is lost and the vaccine rollout can begin ramping up.

While the vaccination numbers are promising, unfortunately 263 new fatalities have also been recorded over the past 24 hours. The NDoH says that of the new 263, the Eastern Cape accounts for 51, Free State with 27, Gauteng has 39, KwaZulu-Natal contributes 60, Limpopo has 55, the Northern Cape has three and the Western Cape has 28.

The death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa has increased to 49 413 as a result.

The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:

As always, in order to stay up to date with the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa and abroad, we advise the following materials and platforms:

• Dr Zweli Mkhize on Twitter
• COVID-19 Connect on WhatsApp – add 0600 123 456 as a contact and say “Hi”.
• World Health Organisation
• SA Coronavirus website
• SA Government
• SA Presidency

[Image – Photo by Zeesy Grossbaum on Unsplash]