SA has 34,023 active cases of Covid-19

South Africa has 34,023 active cases of Covid-19 as of Friday, with 2,111 new cases identified in the past 24 hours.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.669,671. This increase represents an 8.4% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (37%), followed by Western Cape (24%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 17%; Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; Free State accounted for 5%; North West accounted for 4%; Eastern Cape accounted for 3%; and Limpopo & Northern Cape each accounted for 2% respectively of today’s new cases. 

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 127 deaths and of these, 3 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,145 to date,” says the NICD.

23.020,001 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

Here are the latest developments in the Covid-19 crisis: 

– Hong Kong prison outbreak – 

The Omicron virus is spreading through Hong Kong prisons where 200 inmates have been infected with hundreds of political activists and protesters held behind bars. 

– Iraq struggles with virus – 

Vaccine-sceptical Iraq is struggling with the virus. More than 95 percent of patients in the intensive care department of a major Baghdad hospital remain unjabbed. 

– Reds deeper in the red – 

English football giants Liverpool report a second successive Covid-impacted financial loss, with the Premier League club losing £4.8 million ($6.4 million). 

– Nearly six million dead – 

Covid-19 has killed at least 5,925,534 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources Friday. 

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 944,831, followed by Brazil on 647,390 and India 513,226. 

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