It is the beginning of another month under lockdown, but May should prove a crucial one when it comes to fighting the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa. This as phase two of the vaccine rollout is expected to start in the middle of the month. Since starting up again last week, the Sisonke Protocol has administered 318 670 vaccines, primarily to frontline healthcare workers.

The latest figure comes from a new daily report by the National Department of Health (NDoH). The same report confirms that 1 222 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours. This number will be watched closely as there are fears that the coming winter months may serve as a trigger for a third wave of infections in the country.

While the data on that is yet to manifest, at the time of writing, the total number of infections recorded to date now sits at 1 584 064.

The NDoH also notes that over 10.69 million tests have been conducted to date, with 1 507 778 recoveries also being recorded as the recovery rate remains at 95 percent.

Unfortunately, 11 new fatalities have also been recorded over the past 24 hours, with the Free State and the Western Cape accounting for the most at five and three respectively. The death toll related to COVOD-19 in South Africa has increased to 54 417 as a result.

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 Mohammad Shahhosseini on Unsplash]