Covid-19 update: Majority of new cases reported in Gauteng

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said 1,456 new Covid-19 cases have been identified in South Africa during the last 24 hours.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases in South Africa to 3,658,547 – representing a 7.2% positivity rate increase.

More than 22 million tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors since the first case was recorded in South Africa, and 30,419 tests were conducted Saturday’s Covid-19 update.

Covid-19 update

New cases in South Africa

The majority of new Covid-19 cases – approximately 39% – were reported in Gauteng, followed by Western Cape with 20%, and Kwa-Zulu Natal (KZN) with 12%.

The North West accounted for 9%, while Mpumalanga accounted for 7%, the Free State accounted for 5%, the Eastern Cape and Limpopo each accounted for 3% respectively.

Only 2% of the latest spate of new cases were recorded in the Northern Cape. The 7-day average is 8.0%, which is 0.1% lower than Saturday’s data.

Fatalities backlog

The National Department of Health reported 50 deaths, however, only one death was recorded during the last 48 hours, bringing the total fatalities to 98,667.

The discrepancy in the data is due to a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported; the health department is conducting an ongoing audit to clear the backlog.

#COVID19 UPDATE: 20,288 tests were conducted in the last 24hrs, with 1,456 new cases, representing a 7.2% positivity rate. Today @HealthZA reports 50 deaths; of which 1 occurred in the past 24–48 hours. Total fatalities are 98,667 to date. See more here: https://t.co/MAeZp4ps5p pic.twitter.com/lEnOofetmO

— NICD (@nicd_sa) February 20, 2022

BA.2 variant

Meanwhile, new lab experiments from Japan show the BA.2 subvariant may be as severe as older variants of Covid-19, including the Delta variant.

Similar to Omicron, the BA.2 variant appears to largely escape the immunity created by vaccines, and may be resistant to some treatments, such as sotrovimab.

The findings were posted Wednesday as a preprint study on the bioRxiv server, before peer review.

READ MORE: BA.2 ‘stealth Omicron’ could be severe – University of Tokyo

Global Covid-19 updates

Queen Elizabeth II tested positive for Covid-19 on Sunday, 12 days after Prince Charles – who also tested positive – visited his mother at Windsor.

Buckingham Palace said her symptoms are mild and she intends to continue with “light duties at Windsor over the coming week”.

In Canada, authorities cleared the last Freedom Convoy demonstrators in the trucker-led protests which brought downtown Ottawa to a standstill on Friday.

WATCH: Freedom Convoy leaders arrested during anti-vax protest in Canada

More than 100 protesters were arrested and 20 vehicles towed away. As per Ottawa interim police chief Steve Bell, no injuries were reported.

Hong Kong postponed the city’s election to appoint a new leader as a new wave of infections sweeps through the population.