We have reached the end of April, but the end of COVID-19 in South Africa is still not in sight. That said, May will prove a crucial month as the country ramps up its efforts with regard to vaccine rollout, as phase two of the Sisonke Protocol is expected to begin in the middle of the month.

This will see the elderly and those with critical pre-existing conditions prioritised, as the race to reach population immunity before this time next year intensifies.

Right now, the National Department of Health’s (NDoH) latest report confirms that 307 591 vaccines have been administered to frontline healthcare workers to date, with the goal of 1.5 million for this phase of the rollout still some ways off.

The rest of the report shows that 1 086 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, as the total number of infections recorded to date climbs to 1 579 536. The NDoH also confirms that over 10.62 million tests have been conducted to date, with 1 504 426 recoveries being reported as well. The latter sees no change in the recovery rate, which remains at 95 percent.

Unfortunately, 48 new fatalities have also been reported over the past 24 hours. The NDoH says Gauteng, the Eastern Cape and the Free State make up the majority of the figure, with 14, 13 and 11 respectively. The result sees the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa rise to 54 331.

The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:

As always, in order to stay up to date with the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa and abroad, we advise the following materials and platforms:

• Dr Zweli Mkhize on Twitter
• COVID-19 Connect on WhatsApp – add 0600 123 456 as a contact and say “Hi”.
• World Health Organisation
• SA Coronavirus website
• SA Government
• SA Presidency

[Image – Photo by Brian McGowan on Unsplash]