Last week, as elderly citizens in the country began receiving vaccinations as part of the second phase of the Sisonke Protocol rollout, we saw the number of new daily infections for COVID-19 in South Africa rise. With a cold front currently gripping the Highveld and winter almost in full swing, the daily infection rate will be watched with increasing scrutiny as the National Department of Health (NDoH) looks to avoid a third wave of infections.
Looking at the latest report sans handy infographic, 2 894 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours. This has pushed the total number of infections to date to 1 635 465, with over 11.35 million tests having been conducted to date.
As for the vaccine rollout, the NDoH confirms that 480 665 Johnson & Johnson single jab vaccines have been administered, while 167 318 first dose Pfizer vaccines have been issued under the second phase of the rollout. The latter will require a second jab, so those who have received are not fully inoculated at this stage and have been added to the department’s larger total.
The other important elements of the latest daily report sees the recovery rate drop again, this time to 94.1 percent as 1 539 395 recoveries have been reported.
Unfortunately 30 new fatalities have been recorded too, with Gauteng accounting for the most at 20. This sees the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rise to 55 802.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 291 457 | 276 962 | 1 996 | 11 751 |
| Eastern Cape | 197 093 | 184 863 | 210 | 11 643 |
| Northern Cape | 47 449 | 38 849 | 3 554 | 1 021 |
| Free State | 97 593 | 86 296 | 2 398 | 4 204 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 338 853 | 324 238 | 5 041 | 10 482 |
| North West | 73 166 | 66 363 | 2 881 | 1 844 |
| Mpumalanga | 81 157 | 78 267 | 991 | 1 428 |
| Gauteng | 443 846 | 421 670 | 3 231 | 11 032 |
| Limpopo | 64 851 | 61 887 | 295 | 2 397 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 1 635 465 | 1 539 395 | 20 597 | 55 802 |
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]
