The past week has seen numbers related to COVID-19 in South Africa begin to rise. While there are nowhere near what we saw during the third wave of infections, the infection rate itself is picking up in a handful of regions across the country.

Gauteng and Pretoria in particular is seeing a slight increase in infection rates, as concerns over a predicted fourth wave during the upcoming festive season grow. As such, each new daily report from the National Department of Health is being scrutinised for signs of an impending fourth wave.

For now, the latest report confirms that 312 cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours. The figure is relatively low, but as we have seen of late, that number tends to rise as the week progresses. As such, we will need to see how many new infections are recorded by the week’s end.

At the moment, the total number of infections now sits at 2 930 714. The department also confirms that 10 fatalities have been reported too, as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa reaches 89 584.

The recovery rate remains unchanged from earlier in the week, still sitting at 96.3 percent, while over 19.12 million tests have been conducted at this stage.

As for the vaccine rollout, which is becoming ever more important, the past 24 hours has seen 110 064 jabs administered. As of 17:00 on 22nd November, a total of 24 754 316 vaccines have been administered, with an estimated 13 949 705 people fully vaccinated 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 Matthias Heyde on Unsplash]