Covid-19 update: SA records 11 215 new case and 183 deaths

As of Sunday, South Africa has recorded 11 215 new cases recorded since the last report, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

The positivity rate now stands at 29.3 per cent.

The country has also recorded 183 Covid-19 related deaths, bringing total fatalities to 66 859 to date.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (35.6%), followed by Western Cape (15.9%). Limpopo accounted for 4.4%; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; North West accounted for 5.1%; Eastern Cape accounted for 9.5%; KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 16.4%; Free State accounted for 5.4%; and Northern Cape accounted for 2.8% of today’s new cases, said the NICD.

Sunday Covid-19 cases 11 215 are lower than Saturday 14 701, meaning the seven-day moving average, the daily number of cases has decreased.

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Coronavirus: Latest global developments

• Olympic outbreak -Organisers have detected two infected athletes in the Olympic Village shortly after a staff member tested positive, five days before the opening of the Games in Japan.

They are from “the same country and the same sport”, a spokesman for the organising committee said on Sunday, without giving further details.

• UK PM isolates -British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has been forced into isolation ahead of so-called “freedom day” — when most restrictions in England will be lifted.

Johnson and his finance minister were contacted by the country’s health service app after being in contact with a positive case, a day after Health Minister Sajid Javid announced he had tested positive. 

• France tightens travel testing -Unvaccinated travellers will now need a negative test 24 hours before setting off for France from several European countries, a change from previous requirements of 48 or 72 hours.

France has also extended its list of “red” countries to Tunisia, Mozambique, Cuba and Indonesia. 

• Senegal bus stoppage -Senegal’s national bus company is suspending inter-city bus services because of an upsurge in infections around the country.

Dakar Dem Dikk said in a statement it had received “alarming information” but gave no further details. 

• Thailand revolts -Thai police deployed rubber bullets, tear gas and water cannon as demonstrators in Bangkok defied Covid restrictions to call for Premier Prayut Chan-O-Cha’s resignation.

The protesters have many grievances but the government’s slow procurement of vaccines has been among the most incendiary in recent weeks. 

• Four million dead -The coronavirus has killed at least 4,086,242 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP at 1000 GMT on Sunday.

The United States is the worst-affected country with 608,898 deaths from 34,069,082 cases, followed by Brazil (541,266 deaths) and India (413,609). 

The WHO says up to three times more people have died directly or indirectly as a result of the pandemic than official figures suggest.