The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has confirmed 726 new COVID-19 cases in South Africa at a positivity rate of some 7.2% over the past 24-hour reporting period.

This brings the cumulative number of COVID-19 cases to 3 968 931 in the country with deaths also on the rise.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 33 deaths, and of these, five occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 101,350 to date,” the NICD said.

The institute highlighted that Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape continue to lead with the number of new infections.

The provincial breakdown of new cases is as follows:

Gauteng: 274

Western Cape: 166

KwaZulu-Natal: 95

Free State: 51

Mpumalanga: 50

North West: 41

Eastern Cape: 21

Northern Cape: 19

Limpopo: 9

The NICD also reported at least 53 more hospitalisations due to COVID-19.

Meanwhile, at least 33 068 COVID-19 vaccines were administered over the past 24-hour reporting period.

The total number of jabs in arms now stands at some 36 277 964.

Source: South African Government News Agency