CAPE TOWN: South Africa recorded 8 791 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday, with Western Cape and Gauteng accounting for 50% of the new cases, the Health Department said when releasing Sunday’s statistics.
“As of today, the cumulative number of #Covid19 cases identified in SA is 2 456 184, with 8 791 new cases reported,” the department said on Twitter on Sunday.
“Today 178 deaths have been reported, bringing the total up to 72 191 deaths. The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 2 230 871, with a recovery rate of 90.8%,” read the tweet.
To date, 2 230 871 people recovered from Covid-19. The statistics revealed that there were currently 153 122 active cases. The total number of tests conducted, in both public and private sectors, was 14 901 093.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the new cases represented a 23% positivity rate.
“The majority of new cases today are from Western Cape (27%), followed by Gauteng (23%),” the NICD said.
“KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 20%; Mpumalanga accounted for 9%; Eastern Cape and North West accounted for 5% each; Free State and Limpopo accounted for 4% each; and Northern Cape accounted for 3% of today’s new cases,” said the NICD.
The institute said the seven-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased.
“There has been an increase of 204 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, a decrease from yesterday’s new hospital admissions,” the NICD said.
On Saturday, South Africa received a donation of 2.8 million doses of the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine, from the US government.
Receiving the donation, Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi thanked the American government and US President Joe Biden for the donation.
“This donation is going to assist us in terms of ramping up our vaccine programme,” she said, adding that the department was looking at increasing the number of daily vaccinations.
“This contributes towards our supply sites, in terms of security of supply – so that we are able to meet the demands that we have,” added Kubayi.
The 2.8 million doses is the first consignment from the American government. The department said the next batch was expected to arrive on Tuesday, to conclude the 5.6 million donated doses.
On Wednesday, Reuters reported that White House officials said that nearly 10 million doses would be shipped to Nigeria and South Africa – as they were two of the most populous countries on the continent.
Four million doses of the Moderna vaccine will go to Nigeria, and 5.66 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine will go to South Africa.
Last month, the Biden-Harris administration announced an allocation plan for 55 million doses to be shared globally.
IOL