Covid-19 update: SA reports 912 new cases and 3 deaths

South Africa has identified 912 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3.705,696. 

This increase represents a 4.7% positivity rate, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, has announced.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province (33%), followed by Western Cape (23%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 22%; North West accounted for 7%; Eastern Cape and Mpumalanga each accounted for 4% respectively; Free State and Limpopo each accounted for 3% respectively; and Northern Cape accounted for 0% of today’s new cases. 

“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 3 deaths and of these, 1 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,893 to date,” said the NICD.

23.619,340 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 34 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

England to roll out fourth Covid-19 shot

England will begin rolling out its fourth cOVID-19 vaccine shot this week, the National Health Service (NHS) announced Sunday, with millions of the country’s most vulnerable people being offered jabs.

The latest booster shot will be made available to care home residents, people aged over 75 and the immunosuppressed.

Around five million people are expected to be offered the jab, and 600,000 are being invited to book their appointments next week, according to the NHS.

“Our phenomenal vaccination programme has saved countless lives and built a wall of defence which has allowed us to learn to live with Covid,” Health and Social Care Secretary Sajid Javid said: 

“Following the massive success of the rollout so far, we are now offering over-75s and the most vulnerable a spring booster dose to top up their protection against this virus.”

Cases are soaring once again across Britain due to a rampant Omicron variant, with around 1 in 20 people currently infected.

Hospitalisations are once again rising, but the number of people in high-dependency care remains low.

Speaking at his Conservative Party’s Spring conference, Prime Minister Boris Johnson on Saturday said: “We’re getting ready for the fourth jab, because we’re going to need it.”

Britain has been one of the world’s hardest hit countries during the pandemic, with more than 163,000 people dying after contracting the disease.

Additional reporting by AFP