Over the weekend we began another month under lockdown. While the country is at adjusted alert level 3, we are still dealing with the impact of the third wave of infections, coupled with concerns over the delta variant of the virus as we battle to fight the spread of COVID-19 in South Africa.
As has been the case in recent months, the latest report from the National Department of Health (NDoH) shows relatively low figures in terms of cases and fatalities, but these numbers have routinely increased as the week progresses. As such, it is difficult to determine whether we are starting to exit the third wave.
For now, 8 791 new cases have been recorded over the past 24 hours, with the total number of infections recorded in SA to date climbing to 2 456 184. The department also confirms that over 14.9 million tests have been conducted to date, with the recovery rate now sitting at 90.8 percent.
As for fatalities, 178 have been reported in the past 24 hours. This is far less than the 500-plus we saw towards the end of last week, but still remains a concerning figure as the death toll related to COVID-19 in South Africa has now reached 72 191.
Looking at the vaccine rollout, only 17 390 have been administered over the past 24 hours, so there is still a lot of work to do in ramping up the rollout on weekends.
As of 17:00 on 1st August, 7 567 767 vaccines have been administered to date, so there is also work to be done as far as population immunity is concerned. With those aged 34 to 18 still unable to register ahead of the 1st September ability to receive jabs, it remains to be seen how much of the country the NDoH can inoculate before the year’s end.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 402 949 | 352 500 | 35 239 | 15 210 |
| Eastern Cape | 228 761 | 209 162 | 6 794 | 12 805 |
| Northern Cape | 67 727 | 60 420 | 5 562 | 1 745 |
| Free State | 129 570 | 111 214 | 12 623 | 5 733 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 397 363 | 356 888 | 28 832 | 11 643 |
| North West | 128 556 | 101 179 | 24 364 | 3 013 |
| Mpumalanga | 125 941 | 117 092 | 7 142 | 1 707 |
| Gauteng | 863 533 | 819 815 | 26 735 | 16 983 |
| Limpopo | 111 784 | 102 601 | 5 831 | 3 352 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 456 184 | 2 230 871 | 153 122 | 72 191 |
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 Tai’s Captures on Unsplash]
