Covid-19 update: SA records 5,885 new cases and 281 deaths

South Africa has recorded a total of 2.848,925 positive cases of Covid-19 as of Friday, with 5,885 new cases identified since the last report, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has announced.

This increase, according to the institute, represents a 10.3% positivity rate.

The country has also recorded 281 Covid-19 related deaths, bringing total fatalities to 84,608 to date.

16.987,426 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (23%), followed by Western Cape (22%). Eastern Cape accounted for 16%; Free State accounted for 11%; Gauteng Province accounted for 9%; North West accounted for 7%; Northern Cape accounted for 6%; Mpumalanga accounted for 4%; and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today’s new cases.

There has been an increase of 330 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

2,000 SA children to participate in vaccine trial for under 18s

Sinovac on Friday started phase three clinical trials of a Covid-19 vaccine for children, with the first child vaccinated at the MeCRU Clinical Research Unit, based at the Sefako Makgatho Health Sciences University (SMU) in South Africa.

The study is a multi-centre, randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase Ⅲ Clinical Trial to evaluate the efficacy, immunogenicity and safety of the Sinovac inactivated Covid-19 vaccine (CoronaVac®) in children and adolescents aged 6 months to 17 years, Numolux, which distributes Sinovac in South Africa announced on Thursday.

The study worldwide will enrol 14,000 children and adolescents in various pediatric age group cohorts across five countries namely South Africa, Chile, Philippines, Malaysia and Kenya.

READ MORE: 2,000 SA children to participate in vaccine trial for under 18s