By Lehlohonolo Lehana.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reports 2,970 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,963,394.

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (31%), followed by Western Cape (23%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 13%; Eastern Cape accounted for 10%; Free State and North West each accounted for 6% respectively; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; Northern Cape accounted for 4%; and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. 

This increase represents an 11.6% positivity rate.

The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 11.6%, and is higher than yesterday (11.3%). The 7-day average is 11.4% today, and is lower than yesterday (11.8%).

Today, the NDoH reports 31 deaths and of these 10 deaths occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours. The cumulative COVID-19 deaths are 101,250 to date.

Meanwhile Minister in the Presidency for Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities, Maite Nkoana-Mashabane, says the youth continue to endure the brunt of structural inequalities that manifest in violent ways.

"The devastation brought by the COVID-19 pandemic has affected our livelihoods and social mobility.  We have also been faced with challenges of widespread unrest, increasing youth unemployment, raging fires in the Western Cape, the flooding in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape, and the second pandemic of gender-based violence and femicide (GBVF)," Nkoana-Mashabane said.

The Minister was speaking at the launch of Youth Month in Soweto on Thursday.

The Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities and the National Youth Development Agency (NYDA), in partnership with the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, launched this year’s Youth Month, which marks 46 years since the June 16 student uprising of 1976.

Youth Month 2022 is commemorated under the theme, "Promoting sustainable livelihoods and resilience of young people for a better tomorrow".

This year’s Youth Month campaign seeks to highlight challenges faced by the youth, present possible solutions through dialogues, as well as to showcase opportunities available for the youth.

The launch started at Morris Isaacson High School, which was then followed by a wreath laying ceremony at the Hector Peterson Memorial.

Nkoana-Mashabane said Youth Month is dedicated exclusively to issues affecting the youth of South Africa, including but not limited to unemployment, GBVF and mental health.

She underscored the need to harness the potential of the country’s youthful population.

"This includes the political will by government and captains of industry to ensure an integration of youth across all strategic sectors of our society, especially the economy," the Minister said.

Nkoana-Mashabane said that over the next four weeks, government will be involved in a number of events and dialogues with the youth to honour the sacrifices of the 1976 youth, while charting a path forward to tackle the present-day challenges facing them.