Covid-19 update: 972 new cases recorded in South Africa

South Africa on Sunday recorded 972 new Covid-19 cases, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD). This increase represented a 5.5% positivity rate.

The new cases reported brought the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases, since the start of the pandemic, to 3,694,504.

“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 13 deaths and of these, 0 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,725 to date,” the NICD said in a statement.

23,410,199 tests on Sunday were conducted in both the public and private sectors.

Provincial breakdown

The majority of new cases were from Gauteng (37%), followed by Western Cape (25%).

Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 17%; Free State, Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 5% respectively; Northern Cape accounted for 3%; Eastern Cape accounted for 2%, and Limpopo accounted for 1% of Sunday’s new cases.

The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested was 5.5%, which is lower than Saturday (5.8%). The 7-day average was 6.1%, which is lower than yesterday (6.2%).

There was an increase of 10 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

China records nearly 3,400 daily virus cases

China reported 3,393 new Covid-19 cases Sunday, the National Health Commission said, more than double the previous day, as the country faces its gravest virus outbreak in two years.

A nationwide surge in cases has seen authorities close schools in Shanghai and lock down several northeastern cities, as almost 19 provinces battle local outbreaks of the Omicron and Delta variants.

The city of Jilin has been partially locked down, with hundreds of neighbourhoods sealed up, an official announced Sunday. 

China, where the virus was first detected, has maintained a strict ‘zero-Covid’ policy enforced by swift lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing when clusters have emerged.

But the latest flare-up, driven by the highly transmissible Omicron variant and a spike in asymptomatic cases, is challenging that approach.

Residents of Jilin have completed six rounds of mass testing, local officials said. On Sunday the city reported over 500 cases of the Omicron variant.

The neighbouring city of Changchun – an industrial base of nine million people – was locked down Friday.

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