Daily Covid-19 update: 1267 new cases as two provinces record zero deaths

As of Friday 9 April 2021, the cumulative number of detected Covid-19 cases is 1,556,242 with 1267 new cases identified, Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has confirmed.

53 more Covid-19 related deaths were reported, with 0 from Eastern Cape, 12 from Free State, 11 from Gauteng, 2 from KwaZulu-Natal (KZN), 2 from Limpopo, 0 from Mpumalanga, 0 from North West, 10 from Northern Cape and 16 from Western Cape.

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This brings the total number of Covid-19 related deaths to 53,226.

Recoveries now stand at 1,481,637 representing a recovery rate of 95%.

A total of 10,086,459 tests have been completed with 30,560 new tests conducted since the last report.

Meanwhile, the total number of vaccines that have been administered stands at 288,368.

‘Age is most important factor in administering Covid-19 vaccines’

Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Thursday said lessons learned from the vaccine rollout to healthcare workers showed that age is the most important factor determining adverse outcomes such as death, hospitalisation and moderate to severe illness from the virus.

Mkhize said some of the key findings from the Sisonke Protocol using Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine have necessitated some revisions to the country’s rollout plan. He was speaking at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital during his visit to assess the readiness of Gauteng’s Covid-19 vaccination centres.

South Africa is preparing to administer vaccines to vulnerable groups in the second phase of the government’s vaccination plan expected to kick off from 17 May 2021 and running until 17 October 2021. So far, 283,629 health workers have been vaccinated and the government has secured a combined 51 million doses of vaccines – 31 million from J&J’s one-dose vaccine and 20 million from Pfizer’s two-dose vaccine.