As we reach the midway point of the week, the latest report on COVID-19 in South Africa from the National Department of Health (NDoH) shows a peak in the number of newly recorded fatalities, with 555 deaths reported in the past 24 hours. This figure is close to the highest recorded last week and as such does not bode well for how the delta variant of the virus has impacted the country.

At this stage it is the most concerning statistics regarding the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa, with new cases remaining relatively low compared to the surge we saw a few weeks ago during the third wave.

To that end 8 988 new cases have been reported, pushing the total number of infections recorded in SA to date to 2 470 746. The death toll related to COVID-19 has since climbed to 72 992 following these latest statistics.

Looking at the rest of the report, over 14.97 million tests have been conducted to date, with the recovery rate now sitting at 91.1 percent.

As for the vaccine rollout, ramping up efforts remains slow with 191 721 vaccines administered to date. The total number of jabs administered as of 17:00 on 3rd August is 7 981 822, with 3 212 974 estimated citizens inoculated at this stage. There is also no word on when those aged 34 to 18 will be able to register to receive vaccines at the time of writing.

The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:

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 GR Stocks on Unsplash]