By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reports 18,762 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 1,895,905. This increase represents a 25.5 % positivity rate.
The Gauteng province accounts for the majority of new cases (63%), followed by the Western Cape (9 %).
NICD said a further 215 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 59 621 to date, and 12 842 761 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, continues the monitoring and surveillance of COVID-19 in order to inform the public health response.
Hospital Admissions:
An increase of 606 hospital admissions have been reported in the past 24 hours.
Vaccine Update:
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.
Meanwhile vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) prevents infection and reduces the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) in vaccinated persons.
Study investigated the protective effect of the first dose of the Oxford-AstraZeneca non-replicating viral-vectored vaccine (ChAdOx1 nCoV-19; AZD1222) and the Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA-based vaccine (BNT162b2) in residents of long-term care facilities in terms of PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection over time since vaccination.
Single-dose vaccination with BNT162b2 and ChAdOx1 vaccines provides substantial protection against infection in older adults from 4–7 weeks after vaccination and might reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission. However, the risk of infection is not eliminated, highlighting the ongoing need for non-pharmaceutical interventions to prevent transmission in long-term care facilities.