South Africa records over 24,000 new Covid cases in 24 hours

After a total of over 80,304 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours since the last batch of tests, 24,785 new Covid cases have been detected.

According to the NICD, this represents a 30.9% positivity rate.

In the last 24 hours, a further 36 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 90,262 to date.

In recent weeks, Covid cases have been on the rise as South Africans become more social as part of their festive season celebrations.

This development also comes as South African scientists discovered and declared a new Covid-19 variant, named the Omicron variant which is said to be more transmissible than the variants that have come before.

As of Wednesday, 26,976 new Covid cases had been reported.

The NICD further reported that 20,516,511 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors to date. 

ALSO READ: WHO sees unprecedented Omicron spread, ‘probably’ in most countries

According to the NICD, the majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (27%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (23%). 

New Covid cases in the Western Cape accounted for 19% of total infections while the Eastern Cape accounted for 9%. 

Free State accounted for 6%, Mpumalanga accounted for 5%, Limpopo and North West each accounted for 4 while the Northern Cape accounted for 3% of Thursday’s new cases. 

The reporting period also recorded an increase of 347 hospital admissions. 

Minister of Health Dr Joe Phaahla and Deputy Minister of Health Dr Sibongiseni Dhlomo are expected to convene a virtual media briefing regarding government’s ongoing efforts in the fight against Covid-19 and the national vaccination rollout programme.

Earlier this week, the World Health Organisation (Who) warned on Tuesday that Omicron was spreading at an unprecedented rate and urged countries to act. 

Omicron, first detected by South Africa and reported to Who on November 24, has a large number of mutations, setting alarm bells ringing since its discovery.

Early data suggests it can be resistant to vaccines and is more transmissible than the Delta variant, which was first identified in India and accounts for the bulk of the world’s coronavirus cases.

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