South Africa Reports 2 597 New COVID-19 Cases

South Africa recorded 2 597 new COVID-19 cases on Sunday, pushing the total number of laboratory-confirmed infections to 3 559 230 since the outbreak.

The majority of new cases today are from Western Cape after 721 people tested positive, followed by 602 in Gauteng, 547 in KwaZulu-Natal, 167 in the Eastern Cape, 129 in the Northern Cape and 122 in Limpopo, while the rest of the provinces logged less than 100 infections.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the latest increase represents a 10.6% positivity rate.

Meanwhile, the Department of Health reported 86 deaths due to the ongoing audit exercise, of which only 25 occurred in the past 24 to 48-hour reporting cycle.

This means the death toll now stands at 93 364 to date, while there has been an increase of 42 hospital admissions.

In addition, the country administered 4 374 vaccine doses since the last reporting cycle, which brings the tally to 28 903 010 jabs.

The department said 16 036 025 or 40.29% adults South Africans are now fully jabbed, while 1 072 280 children between ages 12 and 17 have received their vaccine.

Of the 7 441 people who are currently receiving hospital treatment for COVID-19, 5 413 are unvaccinated, 310 are partially jabbed and 1 718 are fully vaxxed.

Globally, as of 14 January 2022, there have been 318 648 834 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5 518 343 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation. – SAnews.gov.za