CAPE TOWN - South Africa recorded 344 new Covid-19 cases and 23 deaths on Wednesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has said.
“Today the institute reports 344 new Covid-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 922 735. This increase represents a 1.3% positivity rate.
“As per the National Department of Health, a further 23 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 89 220 to date.
“A total of 18 606 274 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors,” the NICD said.
The organisation said that the majority of Wednesday's cases were reported in Gauteng, with 41% of cases, followed by the Western Cape with 13% and KwaZulu-Natal at 12%. The Free State accounted for 10% of the new cases, while the North West accounted for 8% and the Eastern Cape for 6%. Mpumalanga accounted for 5%, the Northern Cape accounted for 3% and Limpopo accounted for 1% of new cases.
The NICD said the total number of new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday was 1.3% higher than recorded on Tuesday (0.8%).
In the past 24 hours, the NICD also reported that there had been 37 new hospital admissions.
According to the Health Department’s vaccine dashboard, as of 5pm on Wednesday, a total of 158 787 vaccines had been administered.
Gauteng has administered most vaccines in the past 24 hours, as the dashboard records a total of 43 267 vaccines administered in the province, with the Western Cape following with 23 950 vaccines, and the Eastern Cape with 20 598.
KZN administered 18 261 vaccine doses, followed by Limpopo at 16 986, the Free State at 12 245, Mpumalanga with 9 819, and the North West with 9 089.
The lowest number of vaccines administered was recorded in the Northern Cape, with only 4 572.
robin.francke@inl.co.za
IOL