Almost 9 000 new Covid-19 cases recorded in South Africa
Updated | By Newswatch
As South Africa battles the Covid-19 pandemic in lockdown level 4, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says 596 more people have died after they contracted the virus.
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The number of lives lost since the outbreak has climbed to 67 676.
Nearly 9 000 infections, which represent a 22.2% positivity rate, have been picked up in the last 24-hour period.
"Today [Tuesday] the institute reports 8,929 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,311,232," the NICD said.
READ: Kubayi: Looters in KZN, Gauteng must go screen for Covid-19
"The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (37%), followed by the Western Cape (19%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 11%; the North West accounted for 8%; the Eastern Cape accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga and Limpopo each accounted for 6%; the Free State accounted for 4%; and the Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases."
While the number of new cases is decreasing, hospitals in the country are currently treating more than 17 000 people.
In KwaZulu-Natal, almost 40 000 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Nationally, more than 220 000 got the jab and to date the figure stands at 5.5 million
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