Covid-19 update: SA records 3,049 new cases and 13 deaths

South Africa has 79,177 active cases of Covid-19, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

The country has reported 3,049 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 579 428.

The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased.

The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 9.2%, which is lower than yesterday (10.0%). The 7-day average is 9.9% today, which is lower than it was yesterday at10.4%.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province (25%), followed by Western Cape (19%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 15%; Limpopo accounted for 10%; Mpumalanga accounted for 9%; Eastern Cape and North West each accounted for 7% respectively; Free State accounted for 5%; and Northern Cape accounted for 3% of today’s new cases.

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International Covid-19 updates

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Scientists track Omicron ‘sub-variant’

Scientists are keeping a close watch on a recently discovered sub-variant of the Omicron version of the Covid-19 virus, dubbed BA.2, to determine how its emergence could affect future pandemic spread.

Thousands protest in Sweden

Thousands of protesters demonstrate in Sweden’s two biggest cities against the use of vaccine passes, in marches that passed of peacefully despite concern about clashes between neo-Nazi groups and their opponents.

French protest vaccine pass

Hundreds join a series of small-scale demonstrations in France, two days before everyone aged 16 and above has to start showing a proof of vaccination to access restaurants, bars and transport.

Arab summit postponed

The Arab League has for a third year in a row postponed its annual summit because of Covid-19. There is no new date yet for the event originally scheduled for March 22 in Algiers.

More than 5.5 million dead

The coronavirus has killed at least 5,583,378 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on Saturday.

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 864,564, followed by Brazil with 622,563, India on 488,884 and Russia 325,433.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.

Additional reporting by AFP