With the festive season officially upon us and many businesses having shuttered their doors, the usual fervour at this time has been replaced with anxiety as we await further word on COVID-19 in South Africa.

At the moment the highly transmissible Omicron variant of the virus has seen daily cases surge, while President Cyril Ramaphosa recovers from his own infection, and no word from the Presidency in terms of lockdown and mandatory vaccinations.

As such, most South Africans will need to use their own discretion and observe a certain level of cautiousness in order to limit the spread of the virus.

Looking at the latest figures shared by the National Department of Health (NDoH), the past 24 hours has seen 24 785 cases recorded as the total number of infections climbs to 3 225 816.

The department also notes that 36 fatalities have been reported too, with the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa now sitting at 90 262. Other key statistics from the report sees the recovery rate drop to 90.8 percent and over 20.51 million tests being conducted so far.

As for the vaccine rollout, the past 24 hours has seen 12 558 jabs being administered, with the low number put down to yesterday being a public holiday. As such, with the holiday period beginning, turnout may continue to be low.

As of 17:00 on 16th December, a total of 27 422 495 vaccines have been administered, with an estimated 15 540 713 people fully vaccinated at this stage, which is far less than government had initially outlined to be achieved by the end of 2021.

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]