Covid-19 update: 1,228 new cases reported in SA

South Africa has recorded a total of 3.625,190 positive cases of Covid-19 since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, with 1,228 new cases identified in the past 24 hours.

This increase represents a 7.6% 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 Province (41%), followed by Mpumalanga (14%). Western Cape accounted for 13%; KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 12%; North West accounted for 6%; Free State and Limpopo each accounted for 5% 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 186 deaths and of these, 8 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 96,021 to date.”

22.481, 066 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 78 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

Here are the latest developments in the Covid-19 crisis:

– Impasse in Canadian truckers’ protest –

Canadian authorities struggle to tackle a truckers’ protest against Covid-19 restrictions which has paralyzed the national capital for days and threatens to snowball into a full-blown political crisis for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.

– Morocco reopens skies –

Morocco reopens its airspace in a bid to breathe life into its crisis-hit tourism sector, two months after it cancelled commercial flights over Covid-19 fears.

– Turkish swimmer wanted –

Turkish prosecutors issue an arrest warrant for a former Olympic swimmer, Derya Buyukuncu, over tweets appearing to express relief that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan tested positive for Covid-19.

– Spotify won’t silence Rogan –

The head of music streaming giant Spotify Daniel Ek condemns its controversial podcaster Joe Rogan’s use of a racial slur but insists silencing the presenter also criticised for virus misinformation is not the answer.

– WHO, Commonwealth plea –

The World Health Organization and the Commonwealth of Nations issue a joint plea for vulnerable small states to get better access to Covid-19 jabs to help revive their economies.

– Fourth jabs in Chile –

Chile starts administering fourth anti-Covid jabs to over 55-year-olds, as it faces a wave of soaring infections.

– Over 5.7 million deaths –

Covid-19 has killed at least 5.737,468 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-19 deaths with 902,624, followed by Brazil with 632,193, India 502,874 and Russia 336,023.

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

Additional reporting by AFP