Editor’s note: We are unable to feature our regular table with the latest numbers per province for COVID-19 in South Africa, as the full breakdown has not been disclosed by the NDoH. The department has only disclosed the entire country’s infection numbers at the time of writing. We hope to have an up to date report tomorrow. 

Winter appears to be on our doorstep if the recent drop in temperature this week is anything to go by. Along with the change in weather, as well as COVID-19 in South Africa, Eskom has warned that loadshedding is a possibility should power consumption continue to rise. As such, local citizens seem to be taking hits on sides at the moment.

It is why the second phase of the Sisonke Protocol vaccine rollout is so important, as we try to achieve population immunity as quickly as possible. The latest report from the National Department of Health confirms that a total of 700 904 vaccines have been administered to date, with 221 136 being the first dose of two for the Pfizer vaccine.

Looking at the other statistics in the report, the department says total registrations for the vaccine to date are over 2.83 million, with 74 534 registrations being confirmed over the past 24 hours.

As for the current state of cases in the country, 3 084 new infections were recorded over the past 24 hours as the total number of cases to date climbs to 1 640 932. The department also confirms that over 11.4 million tests have been conducted so far, with the recovery rate remaining at 94.1 percent as 1 543 951 recoveries have been reported at the time of writing.

Unfortunately 72 new fatalities have been reported too, with the majority coming from Gauteng at 21, with the Western Cape and Limpopo following with 13 each. This sees the death toll to date for COVID-19 in South Africa increase to 55 874.

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 Maskmedicare Shop on Unsplash]