Covid-19 update: 1,393 new cases reported in SA

South Africa has identified 1,393 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.707,089.

 This increase represents a 5.7% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, announced.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province (34%), followed by Western Cape (25%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 22%; Eastern Cape accounted for 5%; Free State, Limpopo, Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 3% respectively; and Northern Cape accounted for 1% of today’s new cases. 

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“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 6 deaths and of these, 0 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours,” said the NICD.

This brings the total fatalities to 99,899 to date.

23.643,793 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

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There has been an increase of 41 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 

Kenya announced on Wednesday that nearly  840,000 Covid-19 vaccines received through donations had expired, blaming hesitancy and a short shelf life for jabs going unused.

The doses of AstraZeneca were donated to Kenya through the global Covax vaccine equity initiative, the health ministry said in a statement.

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“Any expired dose represents a missed opportunity to save a life,” the ministry said.

About 30 percent of the target population in Kenya has been vaccinated against Covid-19 but uptake has slowed considerably in recent weeks as prevalence of the disease has tapered off.

Early last month, some 252,000 Covid-19 vaccines were being administered per day across the country but that figure has plunged to as low as 30,000.

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The ministry said uptake of the second jab had dropped sharply while some Kenyans were refusing certain vaccines — particularly AstraZeneca.

“We continue to witness Covid-19 vaccine hesitancy attributed to rumours and misinformation especially around fertility concerns,” the ministry said.

Additional reporting by AFP

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By Citizen Reporter
Read more on these topics: Coronavirus (Covid-19)covid-19 vaccines