Covid-19 update: 3,169 new cases reported in SA

South Africa has reported 3,169 new positive cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hour cycle, taking the total number of positive cases to 3.634,811.

This was revealed on Thursday by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, responsible for the provision of laboratory-based surveillance to inform the public health response towards Covid-19.

According to the institute, this represents an 8.8% positivity rate.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported. The NDoH reports 203 deaths and of these, 12 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours, bringing the the total fatalities to 96,705 to date.”

It said that 22.591,175 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

KZN government concerned by dwindling vaccination numbers

The KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) on Wednesday held its Executive Council chaired by the Premier Sihle Zikalala and expressed concerns at the dwindling numbers of vaccination progress.

“The council received an updated report on the progress of the vaccination programme, and noted that there has been a considerable decline in the rate of vaccination,” said provincial government spokesperson Lennox Mabaso.

“The total number of people who have been vaccinated currently stands at 2,903 million, while 4, 315 are yet to get the jab.”

Mabaso said that there was still a large number of people who had not come to receive their second dose of the vaccine, raising more concerns.

“A further 350,762 people are yet to come back for their second dose of the vaccine. All of this is a major concern to the Executive Council, as it could see the Province take much longer to come out of the Covid-19 wave and being prone to more severe attacks of the virus.

He said that the council has since resolved to undertake an intensified mobilisation campaign which will involve all sectors of society including Interfaith Community, Traditional Leaders, Traditional Health Practitioners, and the business community, among others.

“The Executive Council implores all citizens who have not been vaccinated, to do so speedily in order to avoid the virus reproducing itself and infecting and killing more people.”