SA to ‘exit third wave’ if downward trend continues
All provinces in South Africa are on a downward trend, with Gauteng and Limpopo already out of the woods.
Picture: Gallo Images/Brenton Geach
A fine way to start the week: South Africa is ready to exit the third wave, according to Council for Scientific and Industrial Research senior researcher Ridhwaan Suliman.
In his weekly update on Sunday, Suliman said the “downward trend continues”.
ALSO READ: Gauteng, Limpopo officially out of the third wave of Covid infections
Ready to exit third wave
New Covid-19 cases are down by 35%, while test positivity is at 9.3%. In addition, hospitalisations are down by 23%, while the death toll is down by 3%.
This follows Suliman’s update on Friday, which showed all provinces continuing on a downward trend. Gauteng and Limpopo already exited the third wave, provincially.
Suliman said “North West and Mpumalanga are set to follow shortly”.
Earlier this week, the graphs showed test positivity rates in South Africa dipping below 10% for the first time in four months.
At the time, Suliman said the trend was moving “in the right direction”.
“We’re in the amber zone now, let’s go green”.
Latest Covid-19 stats
The rate of Covid-19 infections in South Africa continues to decrease, with a total of 2 281 new infections reported on Sunday.
The Department of Health reported that the total number of infections in the country as of Sunday stood at 2 882 630, with 58 new deaths also being reported.
The latest deaths bring the total death toll since the start of the pandemic to 86 174 deaths.
The recovery rate stands at 94.8%, with the total number of people who have recovered from the virus at 2 732 363.
Vaccines in Africa
Meanwhile, African countries administered four times as many Covid-19 vaccines as they have in the past three to four weeks, according to World Health Organisation (WHO) Africa.
WHO Africa Regional Director for Africa Dr Matshidiso Moeti said at least 470 million doses will be delivered to African countries via the Covax facility by December.
However, this is nowhere near enough.
The doses would only be enough to vaccinate 17% of Africans, with at least double that amount needed to reach 40% of the population.
NOW READ: Vaccinations ramp up in Africa but it’s still not enough
