Covid-19 update: No fatalities reported in SA in 24 hours

According to the national department of health, no fatalities were recorded in the country in the past 24 hours.

The department reported 16 deaths, and of these, 0 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,625 to date.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported,” it said on Tuesday.

The country has also reported 1,436 new cases of Covid-19, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.686,556.

This increase represents a 5.5% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, announced.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (35%), followed by Western Cape (23%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 18%; Eastern Cape accounted for 6%; North West accounted for 5%; Free State and Mpumalanga each accounted for 4% respectively; Limpopo accounted for 3%; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. 

23.285,855 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 46 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 

#COVID19 UPDATE: 26,016 tests were conducted in the last 24hrs, with 1,436 new cases, representing a 5.5% positivity rate. Today @HealthZA reports 16 deaths; of which 0 occurred in the past 24–48 hours. Total fatalities are 99,625 to date. See more here: https://t.co/PbwYW3q7L0 pic.twitter.com/6DBH8D7SIo

— NICD (@nicd_sa) March 8, 2022

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Over six million people have died from Covid-19

Over six million people have died worldwide from Covid-19 since the pandemic began, according to a tally from official sources compiled by AFP on Tuesday.

A total of 6,003,081 people have succumbed to the virus, AFP counted at 1100 GMT.

The milestone comes as the number of infections and deaths continues to plummet in most regions of the world, except in Asia, where Hong Kong is suffering its worst-ever outbreak, and Oceania, where New Zealand has recorded a jump in cases.

Average global daily deaths over the past seven days have fallen to 7,170, down 18 percent in a week, continuing a trend seen since the peak of the Omicron wave in early February despite many countries relaxing restrictions.

The United States has recorded 960,311 deaths from the coronavirus, followed by Brazil on 652,341 and India on 515,210.

While much of the world is learning to live with the disease, China remains committed to stamping it out and has instructed Hong Kong to also pursue a zero-tolerance approach.

Hong Kong has launched controversial plans to test all 7.4 million residents and build a network of isolation camps. The number of weekly infections in the city has doubled in a week to 290,987 while the number of deaths has more than tripled to 1,543.

In regional terms Europe — which is defined widely by the World Health Organization to include Russia, Israel and countries in the Caucasus and Central Asia — is currently reporting the largest number of cases.

It also accounted last week for nearly two fifths of the world’s deaths.

Countries reporting the highest death rates in proportion of their population were Hong Kong with 20.58 per 100,000 inhabitants, Latvia (6.42), Georgia (5.89), Denmark (5.13), and Hungary (5.04).

AFP’s tally is based on Covid-19 deaths reported by national health authorities. 

The World Health Organization believes that the real figure could be two to three times higher.

Additional reporting by AFP