The number of newly recorded cases for COVID-19 in South Africa continues to rise sharply this week. This as the past 24 hours has seen 9 757 new infections recorded, according to the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH).

At the time of writing, the NDoH has not determined it to be a fully blown surge nor categorised it as the start of a fifth wave of infections, but should the numbers continue to rise at the current rate, a fifth wave is all but certain.

For now though, government has emphasised its position on mask wearing under its new health regulation guidelines, but it remains to be seen how these regulations will change should the statistics on the spread of the virus continue to rise.

Looking at some of the other key figures in the latest report, 64 fatalities have been reported as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa now sits at 100 471. The NDoH also states that the recovery rate is now 96.1 percent, with more than 24.59 million tests having been conducted to date.

As for the vaccine rollout, the past 24 hours has seen 53 969 jabs administered. As of 17:00 on 5th May 2022, a total of 35 058 457 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 Maskmedicare Shop on Unsplash]