Cape Town - Over the past 24 hours, 933 new positive Covid-19 cases and a further 139 deaths were reported, the health ministry said on Monday.
Cumulatively, the country has recorded 1 530 966 positive case since the start of the coronavirus pandemic. The death toll stands at 51 560.
Testing
Over the past year, 9 490 435 tests have been conducted with 23 903 tests completed since the last report.
Recoveries
South Africa has recorded 1 458 001 recoveries, representing a recovery rate of 95%.
Deaths by province for March 17:
Eastern Cape 2
Free State 13
Gauteng 29
KwaZulu Natal 20
Limpopo 57
Mpumalanga 6
Northern Cape 3
Western Cape 9
Vaccine drive
“The number of health care workers vaccinated under the Sisonke Protocol remains 157 286, ” the health department said.
Sahpra approves Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for emergency use in SA
South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) said on Tuesday that it had approved a "section 21" emergency use application for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.
Sahpra added in a statement that the approval was subject to further efficacy and safety surveillance of the vaccine in the country, including monitoring its efficacy against the dominant local coronavirus variant.
The country is the hardest-hit country on the African continent in terms of recorded coronavirus cases and deaths, and suffered a severe second wave of infections driven by the more infectious 501Y.V2 variant, first identified late last year.
It kick-started its vaccination campaign with Johnson & Johnson's one-dose vaccine last month in a research study targeting up to 500 000 health workers.
IOL and Reuters