The second phase of the Sisonke Protocol vaccine rollout is now underway, bringing with it the promise of reaching population immunity as the fight against COVID-19 in South Africa continues. Looking at the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH), 519 139 vaccines have been administered to date, which means 40 406 people have received vaccines in the past 24 hours.
While that it one of the higher figures we have seen in recent weeks, it will need to be ramped up significantly if the country is to vaccinate five million people by the end of June, as Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize indicated earlier this week.
While we wait to see if the NDoH can improve its capacity on that front, there is still the prospect of limiting new daily infections. To that end, 2 355 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours as the total number of infections recorded for the country to date now rises to 1 617 840.
The department also confirms that over 11.16 million tests have been conducted to date, while the recovery rate has dropped a point of a percent to 94.4 percent. This as 1 527 968 recoveries have been reported by the NDoH.
Unfortunately, 80 new fatalities have been reported too, with Gauteng and the Free State accounting for the most cases at 32 and 22 respectively. These two provinces have also declared that they are in the midst of a third wave of infections, while the NDoH has held off from stating that the entire country is in one.
Regardless, this sees the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa increase to 55 340.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 290 007 | 275 657 | 1 996 | 11 720 |
| Eastern Cape | 196 673 | 184 676 | 210 | 11 625 |
| Northern Cape | 45 167 | 37 971 | 3 554 | 987 |
| Free State | 95 342 | 85 308 | 2 398 | 4 070 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 338 163 | 322 996 | 5 041 | 10 464 |
| North West | 71 382 | 64 488 | 2 881 | 1 798 |
| Mpumalanga | 80 134 | 77 666 | 991 | 1 421 |
| Gauteng | 436 487 | 417 419 | 3 231 | 10 913 |
| Limpopo | 64 485 | 61 787 | 295 | 2 342 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 1 617 840 | 1 527 968 | 20 597 | 55 340 |
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 Maskmedicare Shop on Unsplash]
