Has the country exited the third wave of infections for COVID-19 in South Africa?
The latest numbers regarding the spread of the virus are looking increasingly positive, with the National Department of Health (NDoH) confirming that 1 504 cases and 42 fatalities have been recorded over the past 24 hours.
While many would like to see even lower numbers in an effort to move to level 1 lockdown, at this stage we still need to see how things pan out in the coming days.
For now though, the outlook is far better than it was a couple of months ago during the height of the third wave.
That said, vigilance is still required by all.
Looking at the rest of the figures in the report, the total number of infections to date is 2 884 134, while the death toll has increased to 86 216. The recovery rate has risen to 94.8 percent as a result of the lower number of daily infections and over 17.37 million tests have been conducted so far.
As for the vaccine rollout, it has picked up pace over the past 24 hours with 152 199 jabs administered, but a greater turnout is needed in that regard. As of 17:00 on 20th September, a total of 16 162 887 vaccines have been administered, with an estimated 7 997 795 people are inoculated at this stage.
With a fourth wave still predicted in November and a fifth wave in early 2022, the vaccine rollout will need to ramp up once again.
The full breakdown of COVID-19 in South Africa is as follows:
| Provinces | Confirmed Cases | Recoveries | Active cases | Deaths |
| Western Cape | 506 362 | 483 390 | 3 447 | 19 525 |
| Eastern Cape | 288 001 | 266 927 | 6 472 | 14 602 |
| Northern Cape | 88 961 | 81 037 | 5 780 | 2 144 |
| Free State | 159 228 | 144 541 | 8 091 | 6 596 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 507 310 | 464 264 | 28 847 | 14 199 |
| North West | 148 548 | 140 013 | 4 506 | 4 029 |
| Mpumalanga | 149 948 | 146 626 | 1 365 | 1 957 |
| Gauteng | 914 196 | 892 245 | 2 736 | 19 215 |
| Limpopo | 121 580 | 116 297 | 1 334 | 3 949 |
| Unknown | 0 | |||
| TOTAL | 2 884 134 | 2 735 340 | 62 578 | 86 216 |
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:
- 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 Afif Kusuma on Unsplash]
