This week many people across the country will begin heading to work, whether that be remote, hybrid or in the office. This after a much needed festive season where the threat of COVID-19 in South Africa and the Omicron variant of the virus loomed large.
We are not out of the woods yet on that front, but the figures surrounding the impact of COVID-19 in South Africa seem to show that Omicron is highly transmissible while not proving as fatal as the delta variant.
That said, we are still not out of the worst of the fourth wave, as infections remain relatively high. To that end, the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirms that 4 482 cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours.
The total number of infections recorded locally to date now sits at 3 526 054 as a result, with the recovery rate currently 93.2 percent.
The NDoH also notes that 82 fatalities have been reported over the past 24 hours, as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rises to 92 453.
As for the vaccine rollout, which still remains a key priority for government in its bid to lessen the impact of each new variant discovered and wave of infections that hit SA, the past 24 hours has seen only 4 056 jabs administered.
We’d like to put this down to it being a Sunday, as well as the last day of the festive holidays, resulting in the low turnout. Hopefully though, this picks up in the coming days and weeks, especially as citizens prepare for their booster shots.
As of 17:00 on 9th January, a total of 28 329 788 vaccines have been administered across the country.
The full outlook for COVID-19 in South Africa follows on below:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 611 501 | 565 155 | 25 439 | 20907 |
| Eastern Cape | 335189 | 311121 | 8503 | 15 565 |
| Northern Cape | 104 505 | 91 022 | 11 007 | 2 476 |
| Free State | 192 754 | 171 561 | 13 958 | 7 235 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 629 101 | 553 413 | 60 339 | 15 349 |
| North West | 181 611 | 168976 | 8187 | 4448 |
| Mpumalanga | 179 484 | 174 881 | 2 566 | 2 037 |
| Gauteng | 1 148 061 | 1 114 203 | 13 595 | 20 263 |
| Limpopo | 143 848 | 136 620 | 3 055 | 4 173 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 3 526 054 | 3 286 952 | 146 649 | 92 453 |
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 Luba Ertel on Unsplash]
