This week, the numbers for COVID-19 in South Africa appeared to be decreasing significantly, but the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) shows that infections are rising once again.

The margins here are small and may simply be the result of more reporting coming in as the week progresses, so it is too early to tell if there is indeed a spike imminent.

For now, 1 149 new cases have been recorded in the past 24 hours, as the total number of infections to date has climbed to 2 908 768.

The other key statistic, fatalities, remains relatively low compared to previous weeks, with 59 deaths reported. As a result, the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa has increased to 87 981.

Looking at the other figures in the report, the NDoH confirms that the recovery rate has increasing by a point of a percent to 95.8, with 2 786 409 recoveries recorded to date. The department also notes that over 17.86 million tests have been conducted so far.

Shifting to the vaccine rollout, things are picking up as 212 790 vaccines were administered over the past 24 hours with more people turning up to vaccination sites across the country.

As of 17:00 on 6th October, a total of 18 510 943 jabs have been administered, with an estimated 9 526 247 people inoculated at this stage.

The full outlook for COVID-19 in South Africa follows on below:

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 David Salamanca on Unsplash]