Covid-19 update: Six new deaths bring SA’s total to 99,976

Six new Covid-19-related deaths have been reported in South Africa, with three of these having occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours.

This brings the total fatalities to 99,976 to date.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported,” said the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, on Tuesday.

South Africa has also recorded 1,557 new Covid-19 cases, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.715,390. This increase represents a 6.0% positivity rate.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (38%), followed by Western Cape (23%). KwaZulu- Natal accounted for 22%; Eastern Cape accounted for 7%; North West accounted for 4%; Mpumalanga accounted for 3%; Free State accounted for 2%; and Limpopo and Northern Cape each accounted for 1% respectively of today’s new cases.

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23.783,240 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 64 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 

US authorises fourth Covid-19 shot for over 50s

The United States Tuesday authorized a fourth dose of either the Pfizer-BioNTech or Moderna Covid-19 vaccines for people 50 and older, as authorities warn of a possible new wave driven by the BA.2 variant.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said in a statement it had based its decision on emerging evidence that an additional booster, given four months after the last, improved protection against severe Covid-19 and wasn’t associated with new safety concerns.

Additionally, people with immune compromising conditions who have already received four shots, with their latest at least four months ago, are now eligible for a fifth dose.

That includes people living with certain organ transplants.

The Pfizer vaccine will be available to immune compromised people aged 12 and over, while the Moderna vaccine will be available to those 18 and up.

Additional reporting by AFP