The latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) shows numbers related to the spread of the virus locally have decreased compared to what we saw in previous days.

Before we call this a downturn in the infection rate, it is important to note that this is the beginning of the week, with figures always lower at this stage before ramping up as the week progresses.

Added to this is a note that the NDoH added to the latest report, with a backlog in numbers currently impacting how precise the statistics are.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 87 deaths and of these, 25 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 93 451 to date,” it explains.

As such, we could see another uptick in daily cases, but we will need to see if that is down to the backlog being added to the total.

For now, the past 24 hours has seen 1 691 cases have been reported, as the total number of infections recorded to date now sits at 3 560 921.

As for the vaccine rollout, turnout to sites across the country has picked up once again, with 86 119 jabs administered. As of 17:00 on 17th January 2022, a total of 28 993 654 vaccines have been administered, with an estimated 16 568 525 people, including booster shots, 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 Tim Mossholder on Unsplash]