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Covid-19 update: More than 13,000 new cases reported
268 new Covid-19 deaths were reported, increasing the death toll to 79,251.
Luca Rannutloa, 25, at the Zwartkops Raceway drive-thru vaccination site getting his jab, 20 August 2021, as the vaccine roll-out is made available for over 18’s, Pretoria. Picture for illustration: Jacques Nelles/The Citizen
The latest Covid-19 data by the National Health department on Saturday revealed 13,261 new cases were detected over the last 24 hours.
This brings the country’s total positive cases to over two million.
Saturday’s new case total is however marginally less than Friday’s, which stood at 14,312.
268 new deaths were reported, increasing the death toll to 79,251.
Despite this, South Africa’s recovery rate remains high, at 91%.
Total recoveries stand at 2,438,182.
Vaccines full steam ahead
All adults above 18 years old were able to register to get the Covid-19 vaccine from Friday following approval from Cabinet.
The move comes after calls for the vaccine to rolled out to 18-to-34 year olds immediately, rather than waiting until 1 September.
This is due to the low turnout of people in the past week, despite government opening more vaccination sites across the country for citizens to get either the double-dose Pfizer-BioNTech or the single-dose Johnson & Johnson (J&J) shots.
Anti-vaxxers protest
Continuously high new case numbers have not deterred anti-vaccination supporters, however, who continue their skepticism of the pandemic and vaccines.
This applies to both South Africans and the international anti-vaxxer community.
An anti-vaccination protest took place outside Groote Schuur Hospital in Cape Town on Saturday – despite authorities reiterating that taking the Covid-19 jab remains voluntary.
A group of protesters gathered outside the hospital in support of, among other issues, heart surgeon Dr Susan Vosloo, whose anti-vaccination message was last week rejected by healthcare professionals and the Netcare healthcare group.
In anticipation of the protest, the University of Cape Town’s health sciences faculty released a scathing statement, saying the Groote Schuur hospital being a site for the demonstration was a “disappointing development”, and reflected “a deep respect for the work done” at the hospital.
Tens of thousands of people demonstrated in the streets of France again on Saturday against the government’s Covid-19 vaccination policies amid concern from rights groups about anti-Semitic sentiment in the protest movement.
Saturday’s marches were called for the sixth weekend in a row to denounce a “health pass” system announced by President Emmanuel Macron that they say unfairly restricts the rights of the unvaccinated.
Additional reporting by AFP
