Covid-19 round-up: More than 11 million adults in SA fully vaccinated
SA kicked off the vaccination of children aged 12 and older on October 20. Out of the 39 109 adolescents who signed up for the jab, 6 843 were vaccinated on the first day.
It was a week of milestones in South Africa’s Covid-19 fight, with the 11-million mark of fully vaccinated adults being reached and thousands of children being vaccinated.
The report by the South African Government News Agency of the vaccination victory came as South Africa launched its campaign on October 20 to vaccinate children aged 12 and older.
The Department of Health reported on the same day that 135 449 people either received the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine or the second shot of the Pfizer vaccine in a 24-hour period.
That pushed the number to 11 036 024 fully vaccinated adults by Wednesday (October 20).
Children
The South African Government News Agency reported on October 21 that 6 843 children, aged 12–17, had received their first dose of the Pfizer vaccine by Wednesday afternoon; within 24 hours of registration opening, 39 109 adolescents signed up for the jab on the Electronic Vaccination Data System.
“The first day of vaccination of 12–17 year-olds went well, without reported challenges,” said the department.
Global view
The World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that the numbers of weekly Covid-19 cases and deaths stabilised this week.
WHO stated that there were more than 2.7 million registered cases and over 46 000 new deaths, a 4% and 2% decrease respectively, representing similar numbers as those reported last week.
Except for the European region, which for the third consecutive week reported an increase in new Covid-19 cases, WHO announced that all other regions reported a decline.
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African region
The largest decrease in new weekly cases was reported in the African region (18%), followed by the Western Pacific region (17%).
Africa also reported the largest drop in weekly deaths – with a 25% decrease, followed by the South-East Asia and Eastern Mediterranean regions, with 19% and 8% declines, respectively.
he highest numbers of new cases were reported in the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Turkey and India.
Globally, the Delta variant, which drove South Africa’s third wave, has now been reported in 193 countries.
October 21 statistics
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases reported 520 new Covid-19 cases, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 918 366.
This increase represents a 1.6% positivity rate.
As per the National Department of Health, a further 81 Covid-19 related deaths were reported, bringing total fatalities to 88 835 to date.
18 283 702 tests were conducted in both public and private sectors.
Provincial breakdown
The majority of new cases reported on October 21 were from KwaZulu-Natal (19%), followed by Western Cape (17%).
Gauteng and Northern Cape each accounted for 14%, Free State accounted for 13%, North West accounted for 8%, Eastern Cape accounted for 7%, Mpumalanga accounted for 6%, and Limpopo accounted for 2% of new cases.
An increase of 62 hospital admissions and 2 810 316 recoveries were reported.
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