Covid-19 update: SA reports 5,284 new cases and 41 deaths

South Africa has identified 5,284 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, said on Wednesday.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.941,045. This increase represents an 17.3% positivity rate.

The majority of new Covid-19 cases today are from Gauteng (32%) followed by Western Cape (28%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 13%; Eastern Cape accounted for 9%; Free State accounted for 6%; North West accounted for 4%; Mpumalanga and Northern Cape each accounted for 3%; and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today’s cases.

The country has reported 41 deaths, and of these, 6 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 101,043 to date.

There has been an increase of 113 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

25.138,638 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer on Wednesday said it would sell its patented drugs on a not-for-profit basis to the world’s poorest countries, as part of a new initiative announced at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

“The time is now to begin closing this gap” between people with access to the latest treatments and those going without, chief executive Albert Bourla told a press conference at the exclusive Swiss mountain resort gathering.

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“An Accord for a Healthier World” focuses on five areas: infectious diseases, cancer, inflammation, rare diseases and women’s health — where Pfizer currently holds 23 patents, including the likes of Comirnaty and Paxlovid, its Covid vaccine and oral treatment.

“This transformational commitment will increase access to Pfizer-patented medicines and vaccines available in the United States and the European Union to nearly 1.2 billion people,” Angela Hwang, group president of the Pfizer Biopharmaceuticals Group, told AFP.

Additional reporting by AFP