South Africa administered close to half a million vaccine doses on Monday, as the country records over 7 000 new COVID-19 infections.

This means nearly five million adults have been fully inoculated after 247 293 vaccine shots were administered in the last 24 hours.

According to the latest data from the Department of Health, 10 790 501 COVID-19 vaccines have been distributed, which translates to 8 240 039 people who have received the Johnson & Johnson or the Pfizer shot.

Meanwhile, the infections continue to increase, with 7 632 new COVID-19 cases having been identified in South Africa.

The majority of new cases were logged in KwaZulu-Natal (2 542), followed by Western Cape (1 634) and Eastern Cape (1 286).

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), this brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 698 605.

“This increase represents a 20.2% positivity rate,” the NICD said, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased.

In addition, a further 163 people succumbed to the respiratory disease, bringing the death toll to 79 584 to date.

The data also shows that 345 hospital admissions were reported in the past 24 hours, which increases the number to 13 537.

Globally, as of 23 August 2021, there have been 211 730 035 confirmed cases, 4 430 697 deaths, and 4 619 976 274 administered vaccine doses, said the World Health Organisation.

Source: South African Government News Agency