Johannesburg - There were 253 more coronavirus-related deaths in South Africa on Wednesday, the Department of Health announced, with 7 338 more people getting infected with the virus.
This takes South Africa’s Covid-19 death toll to 84 152, while the new infections take confirmed infections since last March to over 2.8 million in the country.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the majority of new cases were from KZN, Western Cape and the Eastern Cape.
NICD acting director Professor Adrian Puren said the Gauteng and Limpopo provinces were officially out of the third wave while all provinces were seeing a decline in new cases.
“Although the total number of cases today is higher than yesterday (n= 5 372) and higher than the average number of new cases per day over the previous seven days, the number of new cases and positivity rate have decreased nationally compared to last week,” he said.
Dr Michelle Groome, the Head of the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response warned that although the trend was more favourable, it was not the time to be complacent, stressing that the public needed to continue wearing masks, sanitising and maintaining social distancing.
“The number of hospitalisations and deaths have also decreased compared to last week. A total of almost 14 million vaccine doses have been administered, with over 10 million people fully vaccinated as of 7 September 2021 in South Africa,” said NICD spokesperson Sinenhlanhla Jimoh.
“High vaccine coverage is essential to limit the impact of the virus on our lives and livelihoods in the coming months”.
Groome added: “We all have a part to play by getting vaccinated and encouraging our family, friends and colleagues to do the same.”
BREAKDOWN
KZN - 26%
Western Cape - 22%
Eastern Cape - 17%
Free State - 11%
Gauteng - 8%
Northern Cape, North West - 8%
Mpumalanga - 4%
Limpopo - 2%
“The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (26%), followed by Western Cape (22%). Eastern Cape accounted for 17%; Free State accounted for 11%; Gauteng Province accounted for 8%; Northern Cape and North West each accounted for 5% respectively; Mpumalanga accounted for 4%, and Limpopo Province accounted for 2% of today’s new cases,” said Jimoh.
In terms of hospital admissions, the NICD said 360 more people were hospitalised, taking admissions for Covid-19 related illness to 11 208 across the country.
This includes 5 206 people hospitalised in private hospitals, as well as 6 002 people hospitalised in the public hospitals.