South Africa has recorded 3 801 new COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 944 845.

According to data provided by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), this increase represents a 14.9% positivity rate.

The majority of new cases are from Gauteng Province accounting for 34%, followed by the Western Cape at 24%.

KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 15%; EC accounted for 10%; Free State accounted for 6%; Northern Cape accounted for 4%; Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 3% respectively; and Limpopo accounted for 1% of today’s cases.

“The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 14.9% and is lower than yesterday at 17.3%. The 7-day average is 16.9% today, and is lower than yesterday at 18.3%. The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased,” the NICD said.

The National Department of Health (NDoH) has reported 49 deaths, and of these, 16 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 101 092 to date.

In terms of hospital admissions, the NDoH said that there has been an increase of 112 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

The cumulative number of recoveries now stand at 3 793 500 with a recovery rate of 96,2%.

A total of 25 164 138 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

As at 19:00 on Thursday a total number of 35 959 268 vaccines have been administered.

Source: South African Government News Agency