As people across the country continue to return to work, along with learners in selected provinces beginning the process too today, there is still ever-looming threat of COVID-19 in South Africa.

While the past few days has seen numbers regarding the spread of the virus during the fourth wave remain relatively low, the latest figures from the National Department of Health (NDoH) show an increase in both newly recorded infections and fatalities.

As such, it is unclear if this is simply an overflow from the past few days as the country shakes off the rust of the festive season, or numbers beginning to rise again.

For now, we will need to wait to see what the next few days hold. In the interim, the 24 hours has seen 5 668 new cases recorded by the NDoH, as the total number of infections to date climbs to 3 534 131.

The department also notes that 119 fatalities have been reported too, which is a sharp increase from the previous day, as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rises to 92 649.

Other key statistics sees the recovery rate remain at 93.3 percent, with over 21.61 million tests having been conducted to date.

As for the vaccine rollout, the past 24 hours has seen 86 613 jabs administered, which is a figure that needs to rise significantly given we have already missed any targets in terms of population immunity. As of 17:00 on 11th January, a total of 28 508 583 vaccines have been administered in SA.

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 Braňo on Unsplash]