DURBAN - THE KwaZulu-Natal Health Department averaged about 20 942 Covid-19 vaccinations a day between Monday and Friday last week.
More than 200 000 people have been vaccinated in KwaZulu-Natal since the start of Phase Two of the vaccination roll-out on May 17.
Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said that as of May 30, KZN had 339 811 Covid-19 cases, which contributed to 20.4% of South Africa’s Covid-19 cases.
Mkhize said the province had a total of 10 509 deaths, 325 081 recoveries and 4 221 active cases.
According to Mkhize, on May 30 the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country was 1 662 825, with 3 755 new cases reported over the past 24 hours, while recoveries stood at 1 556 874 representing a recovery rate of 93.6%.
He said 76 deaths had been reported, bringing the total to 56 439 deaths countrywide.
Regarding vaccinations, Mkhize said: “The total number of vaccinated under the Sisonke Programme is 479 768. The total vaccinated in Phase Two as at midnight today is 488 551. These vaccinations were with the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. Total individuals vaccinated; Sisonke and Pfizer first dose is 968 319.”
During the “family meeting” on Sunday night, President Cyril Ramaphosa said the next 636 000 doses arrived on Sunday night with weekly deliveries of an equivalent volume until the end of June, when SA would receive 2.5 million doses.
Pfizer said it had an agreement with the government to supply doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine (BNT162b2) to the country in 2021. On May 2, Pfizer and BioNTech announced the arrival of the first batch of their Covid-19 vaccine in SA.
“While the details of the agreement are confidential, we can confirm that deliveries remain on track and continue to progress in line with the schedule, agreed in advance with the government,” Pfizer said.
Ramaphosa said over the past seven days, there was an average of 3 745 daily new infections, a 31% increase from the week before and an increase of 66% from the week before that.
Ramaphosa said the Free State, Northern Cape, North West and Gauteng had reached the threshold of the third wave of infections and it may only be a matter of time before the whole country entered the third wave.
Ramaphosa said nearly 480 000 health workers were vaccinated during Phase 1, with more than 67% public health workers vaccinated.
“Over the past two weeks, over 480 000 people have received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine as part of the public vaccination campaign. In total, over 960 000 people in South Africa have received one vaccine dose.”
Ramaphosa said more than 3 million people had registered on the Electronic Vaccination Data System and that there were now more than 400 vaccination sites in operation across the country.
“We have secured enough vaccines to reach all adults in the country, which is around 40 million people.”
“This includes 31 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, which is a single dose, and which will be manufactured here in South Africa. It includes 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine, which requires two doses to provide full protection.”
According to the president, about 1.3 million Pfizer doses have already been distributed and nearly 500 000 administered.
Daily News