SA Covid-19 Update: 16 078 New COVID-19 Cases, 148 Deaths

South Africa’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise, with 16 078 new infections reported on Thursday, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Gauteng remains the epicentre, accounting for the majority of 9 521 new cases (59%), followed by 1 912 in the Western Cape (12%).

According to the public health institution, this surge represents a 24.5% positivity rate, pushing the country’s caseload to 1 877 143.

To date, 59 406 have lost their lives to COVID-19 after 148 more fatalities were recorded.

“An increase of 607 hospital admissions have been reported in the past 24 hours,” said the NICD.

This means there are now 10 736 ill patients receiving treatment in hospitals for Coronavirus across the country out of the 141 910 people who are currently infected.

According to the NICD, of these 7 100 are admitted at private health institutions.

The information is based on the 12 769 052 test of which 65 631 were conducted the previous day.

In addition, 115 016 COVID-19 jabs were administered in the last 24 hours, bringing the total to 2 550 248.

According to the World Health Organisation, there are now 179 241 734 confirmed global cases of COVID-19, 3 889 723 deaths and 2 624 733 776 administered jabs. – SAnews.gov.za