Healthcare workers administer the first batch of Johnson and Johnson vaccines at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, 17 February 2021, as health workers receive the first jabs of the vaccine in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Michel Bega
As of Monday, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 1 576 320, with 849 new cases recorded since the last report, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize has announced.
8 more deaths have been reported: 5 from Eastern Cape, 5 from Free State, 3 from Gauteng, 1 from KwaZulu-Natal, 5 from Limpopo, 2 from Northern Cape and 17 from Western Cape.
This brings the total number of deaths to 54 186. The total number of recoveries is 1 501 880, representing a recovery rate of 95%.
“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated the deceased patients,” said Mkhize.
Source: Health department
South Africa will resume the Johnson & Johnson Sisonke trial on Wednesday following Sahpra’s (South African Health Products Authority) recommendation.
“The programme has all the doses it needs to complete vaccinating 500 000 healthcare workers through the early access protocol and the teams have been eagerly standing by, looking forward to making up for lost time by completing this programme in the shortest possible time,” said government on Monday.
Vaccination sites will also be expanded to 95.
Sahpra has recommended that pregnant and lactating women be excluded from the Sisonke Protocol at this stage.
Anyone who experiences headaches, abdominal pain, vomiting, blurry vision or other neurological or abdominal symptoms after being vaccinated is urged to call the Covid-19 hotline on 0800 029 999.
Sahpra’s decision to suspend the rollout was announced by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize on 13 April.
This was after the US paused its rollout due to reported blood clots in recipients.
“We have determined to voluntarily suspend our rollout until the causal relationship between the development of clots and the Johnson & Johnson vaccine is sufficiently interrogated,” Mkhize said at the time.
He said SAHPRA would collate information from Johnson & Johnson and other regulatory bodies to make a thorough assessment of the situation.
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