Covid-19 update: 35 more deaths reported in SA

The total number of Covid-19 related deaths in South Africa as of Tuesday is 89,387, with 35 new deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

245 new Covid-19 cases have been identified in the country, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2.924,317.

This increase represents a 0.9% positivity rate. 

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (35%), followed by Western Cape accounting for 16%. KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 15%; Free State accounted for 13%; Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; Northern Cape accounted for 5%; North West accounted for 4%; and Eastern Cape and Limpopo each accounted for 3% of today’s new cases.

18.768,665 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

There has been an increase of 34 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 

England to require vaccination for all health service workers: govt

All frontline workers in the National Health Service (NHS) in England will need to be fully jabbed against Covid-19 from April 1 or lose their jobs, Health Minister Sajid Javid said on Tuesday.

“Having considered the… advice of my officials and NHS leaders including the chief executive of the NHS, I have concluded that all those working in the NHS and social care will have to be vaccinated,” he told parliament.

The government had already announced that all care home workers will need to have had both jabs from November 11, but were waiting on the findings of a consultation before extending it to all NHS frontline staff.

“Our six-week consultation received over 34,000 responses,” said Javid. 

“The scales clearly tip to one side. I’m mindful of not only our need to protect human life but the imperative to protect the NHS,” he added.

“The weight of the data shows our vaccinations have kept people safe and they have saved lives and that this is especially true for vulnerable people in health and care settings.”

Additional reporting by AFP