Joseph Edegbo :
South Africa on Wednesday recorded over 1 000 new COVID-19 cases, of which 80% were logged in Gauteng.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), 1 018 infections were detected in Gauteng after the province reported 605 cases on Tuesday.
The data shows that the second hardest-hit province was the Western Cape after 61 additional cases were identified, followed by 44 in KwaZulu-Natal and 43 in the North West.
This means there are now 2 950 035 known cases across the country since the outbreak after a total of 1 275 new infections were recorded countrywide, while the positivity rate is edging towards 4%.
According to the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research’s Senior Researcher, Ridhwaan Suliman, the increase in COVID-19 cases in Gauteng continues after a cluster outbreak in Tshwane.
In addition, Suliman said the North West, Limpopo and Mpumalanga are also peaking.
“Test positivity and hospital admissions are also on the rise,” he said in a Tweet, adding that while the absolute numbers are still low enough to get on top of this, the response must be swift.
In addition, the NICD cited the Department of Health, which stated 22 more people lost their lives to the disease, bringing the death toll to 89 657 to date.
Meanwhile, 2 106 patients are currently receiving hospital treatment for Coronavirus after 53 were admitted in the past 24 hours.
According to the department, South Africa has now administered over 25 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, of which 129 660 were given since the last reporting cycle.
This pushes the total number of administered jabs to 25 002 232.
In addition, there are now 14 115 744 or 35.2% of the adults who are fully vaccinated. – SAnews.gov.za
