The past 24 hours for COVID-19 in South Africa has proved very mixed. In the negative end of the spectrum, government has had to suspend its vaccine rollout as the first one million doses secured from Oxford/AstraZeneca have proved less effective than anticipated against the mutation of the coronavirus.
On the slightly more positive side, 1 376 new cases have been reported, according to the National Department of Health (NDoH), which is one of the lowest figures we’ve seen for this metric since the country moved to adjusted level 3 lockdown at the beginning of the year.
Whether this is simply a case of it being the start of the week, before things ramp up in coming days, remains to be seen, but given the overwhelming dread at the moment, any signs of hope are welcome.
Looking at the other statistics in the latest NDoH report, the total number of cases to date is now 1 477 511, with 1 363 947 recoveries being recorded. The latter figure translates to a recovery rate of 92 percent, which is the same as the previous day.
Unfortunately, 183 new fatalities have also been recorded, with the total number of deaths related to COVID-19 in South Africa increasing to 46 473.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 272 526 | 250 747 | 21 779 | 10 638 |
Eastern Cape | 192 846 | 178 949 | 13 897 | 10 975 |
Northern Cape | 32 658 | 28 429 | 2 859 | 602 |
Free State | 77 699 | 66 580 | 11 119 | 2 890 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 321 367 | 289 268 | 32 099 | 9 091 |
North West | 58 497 | 50 445 | 8 052 | 1 027 |
Mpumalanga | 67 515 | 64 024 | 3 491 | 1 094 |
Gauteng | 394 629 | 379 343 | 15 286 | 8 660 |
Limpopo | 59 774 | 56 162 | 3 612 | 1 496 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 477 511 | 1 363 947 | 113 564 | 46 473 |
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 Mufid Majnun on Unsplash]