Covid-19 update: SA records 71 new deaths

South Africa has recorded 71 new deaths and of these, 14 occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours.

This brings the total number of fatalities to 95,093, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

The institute has also reported 1,366 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.605,222. This increase represents a 8.1% positivity rate.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (41%), followed by Western Cape (14%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 13%; Mpumalanga accounted for 10%; Free State, Limpopo & North West  each accounted for 6% respectively; Eastern Cape accounted for 3%; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases.

22.268,519 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors

There has been an increase of 63 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

Covid-19: Latest global developments

– Spotify U-turn –

Music streaming giant Spotify says it will link content on Covid-19 to facts about the virus amid growing demands from music stars to drop top podcaster Joe Rogan for spreading misinformation about vaccines.

– Truckers block Canada capital –

Anti-vaxxer truckers threaten chaos in Ottawa for a third day with their “Freedom Convoy” against vaccine mandate amid fury at some protesters dancing on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in the Canadian capital.  

– Beijing’s record cases –

Beijing records its highest number of new Covid-19 cases for a year and a half as the Chinese capital gears up to host the Winter Olympics in five days.

– ‘Mark of the Antichrist’ –

Greek Orthodox monks are fuelling anti-vax sentiment in the north of the country with some clerics saying the jabs are the “mark of the Antichrist”.

– Cyprus to suspend unjabbed priests –

The leader of the Cyprus Orthodox Church warns he will suspend a dozen unvaccinated priests and those preaching against jabs.

– Ryanair cuts losses –

Ryanair slashed its losses sharply in the third quarter of 2021 despite the Omicron Covid-19 variant, with net losses of 96 million euros ($107 million), a third of the figure for the same period in 2020. 

– Rare Bhutan death –

Bhutan mourns only its fourth death from the virus which its premier says he felt like “a bullet-hit”. The remote Himalayan kingdom has one of the lowest death tolls in the world.

– Over 5.6 million dead –

Covid-19 has killed at least 5,661,274 million 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 884,260, followed by Brazil with 626,854 and India on 495,050.

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