The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service has reported that 4 592 new COVID-19 cases have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 556 633.
This increase represents a 12.5% % positivity rate.
The National Department of Health also reports 64 occurred in the past 24 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 93 278 to date.
Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the NDoH, there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported.
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The majority of new cases on Saturday are from Western Cape (26%), followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal (21% each). Eastern Cape accounted for 10%; Limpopo accounted for 6%; Free State, Mpumalanga, and North West each accounted for 4% respectively; and Northern Cape accounted for 3% of today’s new cases.
The Johnson and Johnson COVID-19 vaccine can stand up to the Omicron COVID-19 variant. That is according to Sisonke Programme Researchers who presented the world’s first evidence on the jab’s efficacy against the variant on Friday.
Less than half the participants in the study had received booster shots. Director of the Desmond Tutu HIV Centre and Health Foundation, Professor Linda-Gail Bekker explains:
