Covid-19 update: 1,377 new cases reported as vaccine count hits 34 million mark

As of Friday, 8 April, the cumulative number of detected Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 3,730,066 with 1,377 new cases identified, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed.

This represents a 5.9% positivity rate.

Nine Covid-19 related deaths were reported – three of which occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours – bringing the total number of deaths to 100,084.

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There were 39 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

The total number of recoveries stands at 3,617,624 with a recovery rate of 97%. South Africa currently has 12,358 active cases.

24,019,672 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 34,054,426 as of 8 April.

Provincial breakdown

The majority of the new Covid-19 cases came from Gauteng (646), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (272) and Western Cape (259).

Eastern Cape (77) then follows, while Mpumalanga and Free State recorded 44 and 27 new cases respectively.

North West recorded 24 cases followed by Northern Cape and Limpopo, both of which recorded the same number of cases (14).

Covid-19 fifth wave?

South Africa is likely to enter the fifth wave of infections in May or sooner, according to Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla.

Speaking on SABC News earlier this year, Phaahla said the fifth wave could be worsened by cold weather and the flu season. 

READ MORE: Health Minister Joe Phaahla: ‘We are not micro-managing the nation’

“If there is no variant of serious concern very soon, we definitely would expect a wave somewhere around May, when winter starts. That’s when people start to congregate indoors because of the cold.

“That’s also when flu season starts. We expect possibly the middle to end of May, that’s when we expect the next wave. It might come earlier, like we saw last year,” the minister said at the time.