We are now halfway through August and with most of the country trying to stave off the effects of a current cold front, much of the focus at the moment is on COVID-19 in South Africa.
Both infections and fatalities remain high according to the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH). To that end the department confirms that 10 139 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, with 272 fatalities also being reported.
The total number of infections recorded to date now sits at 2 605 586 as a result, with the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rising to 77 141.
Other key figures in the report show the recovery rate at 91.2 percent as 2 375 633 recoveries have been reported so far, while over 15.59 million tests have been conducted to date.
As for the vaccine rollout, this weekend saw government plead with those eligible to receive vaccines to register or head to their nearest vaccination site in order to get a jab. Those calls fell on deaf ears as only 10 039 vaccines were administered over the past 24 hours.
As of 17:00 on 15th August, 9 387 129 vaccines in total have been administered, with an estimated 4 082 852 people inoculated at this stage. This should hopefully pick up when the 18 to 34 age group can receive jabs from 1st September onwards, but for now, no confirmation of when registrations will open up for this bracket.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 444 614 | 390 856 | 37 047 | 16 711 |
| Eastern Cape | 242 970 | 219 739 | 10 048 | 13 183 |
| Northern Cape | 72 908 | 65 386 | 5 675 | 1 847 |
| Free State | 136 958 | 117 639 | 13 319 | 6 000 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 430 789 | 373 806 | 44 448 | 12 535 |
| North West | 136 289 | 114 439 | 18 529 | 3 321 |
| Mpumalanga | 135 515 | 128 215 | 5 518 | 1 782 |
| Gauteng | 889 102 | 856 494 | 14 519 | 18 089 |
| Limpopo | 116 441 | 109 059 | 3 709 | 3 673 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 605 586 | 2 375 633 | 152 812 | 77 141 |
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:
- 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 Griffin Wooldridge on Unsplash]
