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. 

“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.

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.

“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.

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