83 more people succumb to Covid-19 in SA as new infections rise by 592

A man wearing a face mask sells masks and gloves in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. Picture Picture: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

A man wearing a face mask sells masks and gloves in downtown Johannesburg, South Africa. Picture Picture: AP Photo/Themba Hadebe)

Published Oct 12, 2021

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Johannesburg: The Department of Health said 83 more people had succumbed to the coronavirus in South Africa on Tuesday, with 592 more people becoming infected with the virus.

The latest fatalities take South Africa's death toll due to the coronavirus pandemic to 88 429 since last year.

This comes as the latest confirmed infections takes the number of confirmed Covid-19 infections in the country to over 2.9 million since the first case was detected in March last year.

National Institute for Communicable Diseases spokesperson Sinenhlanhla Jimoh said the majority of new cases were from KwaZulu-Natal province, Gauteng and the Western Cape.

The majority of new cases today are from KZN (22%), followed by Gauteng and Western Cape each accounting for 17% respectively. Free State accounted for 12%; Eastern Cape and North West each accounted for 9% respectively; Northern Cape accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; and Limpopo accounted for 3% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:

BREAKDOWN BY PROVINCE

KZN - 22%

Western Cape, Gauteng - 17%

Free State - 12%

North West, Eastern Cape - 9%

Northern Cape - 7%

Mpumalanga - 5%

Limpopo - 3%

“The majority of new cases today are from KZN (22%), followed by Gauteng and Western Cape each accounting for 17% respectively. Free State accounted for 12%; Eastern Cape and North West each accounted for 9% respectively; Northern Cape accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; and Limpopo accounted for 3% of today’s new cases,” said Jimoh.

She added: “The institute reports 592 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 912 938.

“This increase represents a 2.1% positivity rate. As per the National Department of Health, a further 83 Covid-19-related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88 429 to date”.

She said 58 people had been admitted in hospital due to Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, taking the total number hospitalised due to the virus, to 5 252 in the public and private medical facilities currently.

Meanwhile, over 200 000 jabs were administered against the virus on Tuesday, the Department of Health said, taking total vaccination jabs to 19.4 million.

Gauteng province has seen the most jabs, with over 5.1 million, followed by the Western Cape with over 3.2 million, KZN - 3.1 million, Eastern Cape - 2.3 million, Limpopo - 1.95 million, Mpumalanga and North West - 1.1 million, Free State - 1.06 million and Northern Cape - 386 000.

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