This week brings with it the prospect of both loadshedding and COVID-19 in South Africa as the country prepares to hunker down for the colder months.

While it remains to be seen what the electricity situation will look like in coming weeks, it appears as if the recent rise in cases could soon be levelling out. This as the past two daily reports from the National Department of Health (NDoH) show a drop in infections compared to previous weeks.

Whether that is simply an anomaly remains to be seen, but for now the past 24 hours has seen 1 662 new cases recorded. This sees the total number of infections recorded to date climb to 3 931 534.

The department also notes that 19 fatalities have been recorded in the past 24 hours, as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa now sits at 100 952.

As for other key figures, the recovery rate has risen again slightly to 96.0 percent, with 3 773 111 recoveries reported, while more than 25.08 million tests have been conducted so far.

Shifting to the vaccine rollout, the past 24 hours has seen 43 780 jabs administered, with 15 613 of these being booster shots. As of 17:00 on 23rd May 2022, a total of 35 704 074 vaccines have been administered across SA.

The full outlook for COVID-19 in South Africa follows on below:

• 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 Tubagus Andri Maulana on Unsplash]