Picture File: A patient receives the Covid-19 vaccine, administered by nurse Andrina Mabaso, 7 September 2021, at the Rhema Bible Church vaccination site in Bromhof, Randburg. Picture: Michel Bega
More than 350,000 people have been vaccinated during the inaugural Covid-19 Vooma vaccination weekend. However, government has missed its target of vaccinating 500,000 people during the first weekend of the campaign.
President Cyril Ramaphosa launched the Vooma Vaccination Weekends on Friday in Katlehong, Ekurhuleni, in a bid to get 70% of South Africa’s adult population vaccinated against Covid-19 before the end of the year.
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The campaign is aimed at encouraging people who are unable to receive their jabs during the week to get vaccinated on weekends at pop-up vaccinations sites and other areas closer to where they live.
Although the Department of Health had hoped to reach 500,000 people during the first weekend of the Vooma Vaccination Weekends, a total of 353,819 people came out to receive their vaccines.
The highest number of vaccines administered was on Friday, with 195,659 people inoculated. However, the numbers dropped on Saturday and Sunday, with 107,385 and 50,776 jabs received respectively.
The total number of Covid-19 vaccines administered in South Africa stood at 17,875,187.
South Africa’s Covid-19 cases have been rapidly slowing down, with the country currently under alert level 1 lockdown with eased restrictions on gatherings and the movement of people.
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As of Sunday, the cumulative number of detected Covid-19 cases in the country stood at 2,906,422 with 809 new cases identified, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) confirmed.
This represented a 3.4% positivity rate.
Covid-19 related deaths came in at 27, bringing the total number of deaths to 87,780.
The total number of recoveries stood at 2,906,422 with a recovery rate of 95.6%.
17,783,920 tests in total have been conducted to date in both public and private sectors. The country currently has 38,736 active cases. A further 30 hospital admissions were reported.
Compiled by Thapelo Lekabe
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