The country’s vaccine rollout is expected to start up again today with frontline healthcare workers prioritised to be inoculated in the fight against COVID-19 in South Africa. The next phase is scheduled for mid-May, where the elderly will receive the vaccine.
The rest of the population will need to wait until far later into the year to begin receiving their vaccines, which means it is crucial that we continue to adhere to lockdown regulations and ensure that no third wave of infections happens.
While the wait continues, the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH), shows that the number of new daily infections is at a manageable level. This as 880 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, pushing the total number of infections recorded in SA to date to 1 577 200.
The department also explains over 10.56 million tests have been conducted to date, along with there being no movement on the recovery rate, which remains at 95 percent with 1 502 986 recoveries being reported.
Unfortunately, however, 51 new fatalities have been reported over the past 24 hours, with Gauteng accounting for the most at 20. The result sees the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa increase to 54 237.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 286 257 | 272 753 | 1 996 | 11 613 |
Eastern Cape | 196 000 | 184 265 | 210 | 11 528 |
Northern Cape | 39 451 | 35 289 | 3 554 | 886 |
Free State | 88 006 | 81 327 | 2 398 | 3 839 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 336 381 | 320 835 | 5 041 | 10 379 |
North West | 67 090 | 62 517 | 2 881 | 1 706 |
Mpumalanga | 77 831 | 75 684 | 991 | 1 393 |
Gauteng | 422 366 | 409 068 | 3 231 | 10 627 |
Limpopo | 63 818 | 61 248 | 295 | 2 266 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 577 200 | 1 502 986 | 20 597 | 54 237 |
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 Spencer Davis on Unsplash]