Healthcare workers administer the first batch of Johnson & Johnson vaccines at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto on 17 February 2021, as health workers receive the first jabs of the vaccine in the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. Picture: Michel Bega
South Africa on Thursday reported 1,868 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of cases to 3.690,291.
This increase represents a 6.5% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, announced.
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (34%), followed by Western Cape (24%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 16%; Limpopo and North West each accounted for 6% respectively; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; Free State accounted for 4%; Eastern Cape accounted for 3%; and Northern Cape accounted for 1% of today’s new cases.
“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 25 deaths and of these, 10 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,681 to date,” said the NICD in a statement.
23.343,250 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.
There has been an increase of 45 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.
The pandemic has been an “El Dorado” for match fixers, with Sportradar Integrity Services saying it detected 903 suspicious matches in 2021 –- the highest number recorded in the company’s 17-year history.
Slovakia rolls out the more traditional Novavax jab, which experts hope will win over its vaccine-sceptical population. The country is one of the least vaccinated in the European Union, with only 51 percent of Slovaks fully immunised.
Dozens of mainly German and Austrian anti-vaxxers have moved to the South American country of Paraguay, joining a private colony to dodge “excessive” European Covid regulations.
New Zealand team Moana Pasifika’s debut Super Rugby season is hit again by a postponement due to the virus, after its first two matches were called off after some of its players tested positive.
Covid-19 has killed at least 6,019,383 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally based on official sources on Wednesday.
The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 963,819, followed by Brazil on 653,498 and India with 515,459.
Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid, the WHO estimates the true death toll could be two to three times higher.
Additional reporting by AFP
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