South Africa now has 16 102 982 or 40.46% of its adult population who have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine since the start of the inoculation programme.

This comes as the country administered 132 316 jabs in the past 24 hours, which pushes the total number of doses to 24 346 917.

According to the Department of Health’s latest data, 13 673 027 or 34.1% over 18s are now fully vaccinated, while 319 797 or 5% of children aged between 12 and 17 have received the first shot of the Pfizer vaccine.

Meanwhile, the number of booster shots of the Johnson & Johnson given to healthcare workers under the Sisonke Study has risen to 56 881.

In addition, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reported 566 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 926 914.

The data shows that Gauteng accounted for the highest number of new infections after 332 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.

The province is followed by 45 additional infections in the Western Cape, 38 in Limpopo, 37 in KwaZulu-Natal and 34 in the North West.

“This increase represents a 1.6% positivity rate,” the NICD said, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases has peaked.

The NICD, referring to the Department of Health’s statistics, said 11 people succumbed to COVID-19 related complications, bringing the death toll to 89 515.

This is while the country’s hospital admissions rose by 48 since the last reporting cycle.

According to the World Health Organisation, as of 17 November 2021, there have been 254 256 432 confirmed global cases of COVID-19, including 5 112 461 deaths reported.

Source: South African Government News Agency