Covid-19 update: 1,332 new cases reported in SA

South Africa has on Monday reported 1,332 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.582,691.

This increase represents a 7.8% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (35%), followed by Western Cape (17%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 16%; Mpumalanga accounted for 9%; Free State, Limpopo and North West each accounted for 6% respectively; Eastern Cape accounted for 3%; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases.

“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 88 deaths and of these, 14 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 94,265 to date,” said the NICD.

22.041,433 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 89 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

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– Nearly 5.6 million dead –

The coronavirus has killed at least 5,593,747 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on Monday.

The US has recorded the most Covid deaths with 866,540, followed by Brazil with 623,097, India on 489,848 and Russia 326,112.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.

The Covid emergency could end this year, the global head of the WHO says, even though last week the virus killed someone every 12 seconds.

“We can end Covid-19 as a global health emergency and we can do it this year,” Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus insists, if everyone has access to vaccines and treatment.

Additional reporting by AFP