Covid-19 update: SA records 201 new cases and 29 deaths

As of Monday, South Africa has recorded a total of 2.912,346 positive cases of Covid-19, with only 201 new cases identified since the last report, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has announced.

This increase, according to the institute, represents a 3.3% positivity rate.

The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (28%), followed by Gauteng Province (22%). Western Cape accounted for 16%; Eastern Cape accounted for 14%; Northern Cape accounted for 5%; Mpumalanga accounted for 4%; Free State and North West each accounted for 3% respectively; and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. 

As per the National Department of Health, 29 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88,346 to date.

17.988,526 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 52 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

WHO experts back extra Covid jab for people with weak immune systems

The World Health Organization’s vaccine advisers on Monday recommended people with weakened immune systems should be offered an additional dose of all WHO-approved Covid-19 vaccines.

The UN health agency’s experts also said over-60s fully immunised with China’s Sinovac and Sinopharm vaccines should be offered an additional third vaccine dose.

The Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunisation (SAGE) stressed it was not recommending an additional booster dose for the population at large, which is already being rolled out in some countries.

The WHO wants a moratorium on booster doses for the general population until the end of the year to prioritise first doses in the dozens of nations starved of vaccines.

The WHO’s target of getting 10 percent of the population in each country fully vaccinated by the end of September was missed by 56 states. However almost 90 percent of high-income countries hit the target.

SAGE said it would review the issue of general booster doses on November 11.

Compiled by Vhahangwele Nemakonde. Additional reporting by AFP