SA Distributes Close to 160 000 COVID-19 Vaccines on Wednesday

South Africa administered 158 787 COVID-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, bringing the total doses to 22 799 682.

The Department of Health’s latest data shows that of the jabs administered on Wednesday, 145 828 were given to adults, while 12 959 were received by children aged between 12 and 17.

In addition, the country is now home to 12 620 892 or 31.4% fully vaccinated adults out of the 40 million government is targeting.

Meanwhile, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), recorded 344 new COVID-19 infections, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 922 735.

The majority of new cases were logged in Gauteng after 140 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

In addition, 44 were reported in the Western Cape, 41 in KwaZulu-Natal, 35 in Free State, 28 in the North West and 22 in the Eastern Cape, while the rest of the provinces recorded less than 20 cases each.

“This increase represents a 1.3% positivity rate,” the NICD explained, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases have decreased.

Meanwhile, a further 23 patients succumbed to the respiratory disease, which means the death toll now stands at 89 220 to date.

The NICD said the hospital admission has increased by 37.

The information is based on the 18 606 274 tests, of which 27 392 were conducted since the last reporting cycle.

The institute is once again encouraging people to adhere to preventative measures to help limit the risk of contracting and spreading the virus.

This includes vaccinating, wearing a mask, avoiding unnecessary gatherings, keeping a social distance of one metre and washing hands regularly.

Global view

From 25 to 31 October 2021, the World Health Organisation (WHO) recorded a slight upward trend of a 3% increase in new weekly cases, with just over three million infections reported.

Apart from the European region, which reported a 6% peak in new weekly cases, other regions registered declines or stable trends.

The biggest drop was reported in the Eastern Mediterranean region (12%), followed by South-East Asia and African regions (both 9%).

In addition, the new weekly deaths went up by 8% as compared with the previous week, with over 50 000 new fatalities.

These figures were mainly driven by the South-East Asia region, which reported the largest increase (50%), followed by the European region (12%) and the Western Pacific region (10%).

As of 31 October, the WHO said there were over 246 million confirmed cases and nearly five million deaths have been reported.

The highest numbers of new cases were reported from the United States (528 455 new cases, 7% increase), the United Kingdom (285 028 new cases, 14% decrease), Russia (272 147 new cases, 9% increase), Turkey (182 027 new cases, 8% decrease), and Ukraine (152 897 new cases, 14% increase).

In Africa, the highest numbers of new cases were reported from Ethiopia (3 313 new cases, a 14% increase), South Africa (2 554 new cases, a 19% decrease), and Cameroon (2 210 new cases, a 17% increase). – SAnews.gov.za