Covid-19 update: SA records 7,209 new cases

As of Monday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reported 7,209 new Covid-19 cases have been identified in South Africa.

This brings the total number of confirmed cases to 2,302,304, representing a 27.3% positivity rate.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 221 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 67,080 to date,” it said in today’s report.

Covid-19 pandemic reduces life expectancy in SA by three years

14,269,993 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.

For 2021, Statistics South Africa (Stats SA) estimates the mid-year population at 60.14 million people: an increase of about 604,281 (1.01%) since mid-year 2020. Here’s how Covid-19 impacted life expectancy.

Impact of Covid-19 waves

This after the first two waves of Covid-19 infections swept across South Africa between 1 July 2020 and 30 June 2021.

The second and third waves (driven by the Beta and Delta variants respectively) resulted in “significantly higher proportions of deaths in the country than would normally have occurred; as a result of this rise in deaths, life expectancy at birth declined significantly”.

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However, Stats SA said: “Whilst the life expectancy at birth indicator is an important health indicator, in this Covid-19 period it should not be interpreted as a projection of an individual’s lifespan, but should rather be used to shed light on the cumulative burden of a crisis compared to recent trends.”

That said, the full impact of the pandemic will only be known as new data becomes available over time, to provide researchers with a better sense of the full impact on South Africa and the world.