By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize said in a statement the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases identified in South Africa is 1 617 840.
Mkhie said 80 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported: Eastern Cape 6, Free State 22, Gauteng 32, Kwa-Zulu Natal 5, Limpopo 6, Mpumalanga 0, North West 0, Northern Cape 0 and Western Cape 9 which brings the total to 55 340 deaths. Free State and Gauteng Provinces have been back-capturing deaths over April and May as part of their auditing processes.
The number of tests conducted to date is 11 166 950. Of these 32 397 tests were conducted since the last report and the cumulative recoveries now stand at 1 527 968 representing a recovery rate of 94,4%, added the minister.
Vaccination Rollout:
The total vaccinated under the Sisonke Programme is 479 768. These vaccinations were with the one-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine and are therefore completed vaccinations
The total vaccinated in Phase Two to date is 39 371. These vaccinations were with the first dose of Pfizer vaccine.
Meanwhile Mkhize, said it is all systems go as the country embarks on its second day of the COVID-19 mass vaccination rollout plan.
Despite a successful first day on Monday, Mkhize acknowledged that some provinces experienced a few challenges.
Speaking at the Royal Showgrounds mass vaccination centre in Pietermaritzburg where religious leaders joined him, Mkhize said provinces had to contend with load shedding.
According to the Minister, while power cuts did not affect the vaccine’s cold chain, as there were contingency plans in place, it created challenges with the Electronic Vaccination Data System (EVDS).
Load shedding disabled the system and made the reception a bit slow and had to use a lot of manual records for that. Nevertheless, it doesn’t derail our Electronic Vaccination Data System,” he said on Tuesday.
According to Mkhize, the EVDS recorded 11 000 people who received the first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. However, the Minister said the figure is yet to be reconciled with vaccinees that were recorded manually.
In addition, some areas like Bloemfontein in the Free State, had to shut down a centre after disruptions sparked by protests.
“The other issues that we’ve noticed was that there was a slow start because people are still getting used to this and some were indicating that the mixing got them in a difficulty. Therefore, they lost the last dose. Every vile has six people that must be vaccinated,” he explained.
However, he believes that the wastage will be less as the vaccinators gets the hang of things.
Mkhize said more vaccination centres were operational on Tuesday and that government is targeting to open over 3 300 sites by end of September.