By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Friday night, South Africa recorded 8,021 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours.
The 8,021 new infections came at a positivity rate of 16.5%, and take the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases across SA to 1,730,106 since the outbreak of the coronavirus in SA in March last year.
“The majority of new cases today are from the Gauteng province (60%), followed by the Western Cape (9%) province,” the institute said.
This translated to 4,809 cases in Gauteng and 748 in the Western Cape. The only other province to have more than 500 cases in the past 24 hours was the North West, with 508 confirmed infections.
The NICD said there was an increase of 1,009 hospital admissions, meaning that there are now 7,467 people in hospital across SA with Covid-19.
There were also 182 in-hospital deaths reported in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of in-hospital fatalities to 57,591.
Meanwhile the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced Friday it was authorizing for use two batches of Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccines that were produced at the troubled Emergent Biosolutions facility in Baltimore.
This is a significant development given not a single usable dose of the Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine from that facility had been approved yet.
“Before making this decision, the FDA conducted a thorough review of facility records and the results of quality testing performed by the manufacturer. Based on this review and considering the current COVID-19 public health emergency, the FDA concluded these batches are suitable for use,” the FDA said in a statement.
The FDA’s decision to include these two batches of vaccine drug substance in the EUA for the Janssen COVID-19 vaccine means that Janssen vaccine made with this drug substance can be used in the U.S. or exported to other countries. A condition on any export of these batches, or of vaccine manufactured from these batches, is that Janssen and Emergent agree that the FDA may share relevant information about the manufacture of the batches under an appropriate confidentiality agreement, with the regulatory authorities of the countries in which the vaccine may be used.
The FDA has also revised the letter of authorization for the Janssen vaccine to help facilitate potential export to other countries. Under the revised letter of authorization, the distribution and administration of exported vaccines must comply with the laws of the recipient countries.
The FDA has determined several other batches are not suitable for use, but additional batches are still under review and the agency will keep the public informed as those reviews are completed.