Cape Town – Fewer than 3,200 new Covid-19 infections were recorded in South Africa on Tuesday, with 23 deaths in the past 24 to 48 hours.
“Today the institute reports 3,197 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,585,888,” the National Insitute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said.
Most of Tuesday’s new infections were recorded in Gauteng (898), KwaZulu-Natal (483), and the Western Cape (460) in that order.
NICD data reveals a spike in cases from Limpopo on Tuesday (421) compared to Monday (85).
A total of 36,216 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, illustrating the consistent change in South Africa’s testing behaviour after a Monday.
The institute reports a positivity rate of 8.8 percent after taking into account Tuesday’s total number of tests and new infections.
“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 132 deaths and of these, 23 occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours,” NICD says.
An additional 179 hospital admissions occurred in the past 24 hours. However, on a daily basis the total number of currently admitted patients continues to decrease.
The total number of patients currently admitted in hospitals per day:
- Monday: 6,387
- Tuesday: 6,284
Meanwhile, the number of inoculations increased on Tuesday. NICD reports 82,572 vaccines administered in the past 24 hours, with Gauteng continuing to administer more vaccines compared to any other province.
Breakdown of SA’s new cases per province:
- Gauteng: 898
- KwaZulu-Natal: 483
- Western Cape: 460
- Limpopo: 421
- Mpumalanga: 253
- Eastern Cape: 235
- Free State: 208
- North West: 182
- Northern Cape: 57
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