Africa-Press – South-Africa. DURBAN – With South Africa just weeks away from receiving its batch of Covid-19 vaccinations, the Health Ministry has announced that 20 999 more people have tested positive for the coronavirus.
According to the Department of Health’s daily report, the country’s cumulative total of Covid-19 cases now stands at 1 170 590.
A cumulative total of 6 967 478 tests have been completed with 69 271 tests conducted since the last report.
“Regrettably we report 441 new Covid-19-related deaths, bring the total to 31 809,” the Ministry said.
Eastern Cape – 70
Free State – 23
Gauteng – 75
KwaZulu-Natal – 132
Limpopo – 11
Mpumalanga – 7
Northern Cape – 4
Western Cape – 119.
“Our recoveries now stand at 938 216, representing a recovery rate of 80,1%,” the Ministry added.
Earlier today, Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that the country will receive its first one million doses of a Covid-19 vaccine this month.
“As recently as yesterday, our teams from the National Department of Health and the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) were fine tuning and aligning all the regulations processes to ensure that there are no unnecessary delays or regulatory impediments to activate this roll out.
“We are happy that the SII/ Astra Zeneca vaccine has already been approved by various regulators and is being rolled out in other countries. Therefore, as part of expediting the regulatory process, SAHPRA is applying reliance on that regulatory work,” Mkhize said.
The first batch of 1m will arrive this month, while 500 000 more doses will arrive in February.
IOL
