Covid-19 update: 3,056 cases, 435 deaths confirmed

As of Thursday, 17 February, the cumulative number of detected Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 3,652,024 with 3,056 new cases identified, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed.

This represents a 8.8% positivity rate.

435 Covid-19 related deaths – of which 17 occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours – was reported, bringing the total number of deaths to 97,955.

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There were 92 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

The total number of recoveries stood at 3,515,196 with a recovery rate of 96,3%. The country currently has 38,873 active cases.

22,796,653 tests in total have been conducted to date in both public and private sectors.

The total number of vaccines administered in the country so far stands at 30,858,874 as of 17 February.

Provincial breakdown

The majority of the new Covid-19 cases came from Gauteng (1,129), followed by Western Cape (536) and KwaZulu-Natal (414).

North West (313) then follows, while Mpumalanga and Free State recorded 253 and 151 new cases respectively.

Eastern Cape recorded 107 cases followed by Limpopo (93) and Northern Cape (60) had the lowest cases.

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Global developments

Hong Kong’s health system buckles

Hong Kong’s hospitals buckle under an Omicron-fuelled wave with patients shivering on gurneys outside overflowing wards.

No Olympic infections

Beijing Olympics organisers say there were no new Covid cases in the Games’ “closed-loop” bubble for the first time, hailing the success of China’s strict approach.

Canada orders truckers to leave

Canadian police issue an ultimatum to protesters who have been choking Ottawa streets for 20 days to leave the capital, as provincial and US state leaders call for an end to the cross-border vaccine requirement that sparked the trucker-led movement.

‘World better prepared’

The world is becoming “better prepared” to deal with future variants of the virus, the CEO and co-founder of German vaccine-maker BioNTech tells AFP, as the company works on an Omicron-specific shot.

Japan eases strict border bar

Japan will ease its strict virus border rules to allow students and businesspeople into the country from March, but tourists will still be barred.

Over 5.8 million dead

Coronavirus has killed at least 5,848,104 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources Thursday at 1100 GMT.

The US has recorded the most Covid deaths with 928,519, followed by Brazil with 640,774, and India 510,413.

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

Additional reporting by AFP