The National Department of Health’s (NDoH) Sisonke Protocol is up and running again, with frontline healthcare workers now receiving vaccines to fight the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. The resumption has been a little slow, with only 5 530 vaccines administered over the past 24 hours as the total to date now sits at 298 153.
If the department aims to inoculate 1.5 million healthcare workers before phase two of the rollout is slated to happen in mid-May, it will need to seriously pick up the pace.
In the interim, however, the rest of the population will need to wait, which brings us to the latest report from the NDoH regarding COVID-19 in South Africa. Here 1 250 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, with fears growing over a third wave hitting as the winter months kick off locally. As such, South Africans have been urged to remain vigilant as the total number of cases recorded to date rises to 1 578 450.
The NDoH’s report also shows that over 10.59 million tests have been conducted to date, with 1 503 611 recoveries also being recorded, representing a a recovery rate of 95 percent.
Unfortunately, however, 48 new fatalities have been reported too. The majority come from the North West and Eastern Cape, each contributing 19 and 11 respectively. The result sees the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rise to 54 285.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
Western Cape | 286 412 | 272 902 | 1 996 | 11 617 |
Eastern Cape | 196 031 | 184 323 | 210 | 11 539 |
Northern Cape | 39 607 | 35 289 | 3 554 | 891 |
Free State | 88 266 | 81 341 | 2 398 | 3 843 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 336 442 | 320 835 | 5 041 | 10 380 |
North West | 67 208 | 62 694 | 2 881 | 1 725 |
Mpumalanga | 77 919 | 75 740 | 991 | 1 393 |
Gauteng | 422 720 | 409 231 | 3 231 | 10 631 |
Limpopo | 63 845 | 61 256 | 295 | 2 266 |
Unknown | 0 | |||
TOTAL | 1 578 450 | 1 503 611 | 20 597 | 54 285 |
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 National Cancer Institute on Unsplash]