South Africa has recorded 1 262 new COVID-19 cases between 28 August and 3 September.

To date, South Africa has had 4 012 860 laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 cases.

According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), the latest data indicates a 5% drop in the number of new cases detected compared to the previous week.

In the past week, the NICD said Gauteng reported the highest weekly incidence risk (3.4 cases per 100 000 persons), followed by Western Cape (2.5 cases per 100 000 persons), while the rest of the provinces logged weekly incidence below 2.5 cases per 100 000 persons.

The data shows that in the past week, six of the nine provinces reported a decrease in weekly incidence risk.

The decrease ranged from 0.1 cases per 100 000 persons (9.4% decrease) in Limpopo to 0.5 cases per 100 000 persons (20.9% decrease) in KwaZulu-Natal.

Meanwhile, Mpumalanga, North West and Western Cape reported an increase in the weekly incidence, 0.7 cases per 100 00 persons (55.2% increase), 0.6 cases per 100 000 persons (46.3% increase) and 0.1 cases per 100 000 persons (2.3% increase), respectively.

In addition, the national public health institute said new admissions dipped by 40%, with 104 patients admitted to hospital compared to the 173 in the previous week.

“Delays in reporting of admissions and deaths may affect the numbers reported in the most recent week.”

Gauteng had the highest number of admissions in the past week after 37 people received hospital treatment, followed by 29 in KwaZulu-Natal, 11 in the Western Cape, while there were zero admissions in Limpopo and Northern Cape in the past week.

The highest weekly incidence risk of COVID-19 admissions reported in week 35 of 2022 was in the 65 age group and older, while the lowest weekly incidence risk was those younger than age 20 and the 20 to 34-years age group.

According to the Department of Health, South Africa administered 8 182 vaccine doses in the past 24 hours, pushing the total to 37 506 007.

This means the country now has 20 366 036 adults who are vaccinated, of which 18 575 025 are fully jabbed.

Meanwhile, the department’s records show that 2 676 290 vaccine doses were given to children between the ages of 12 and 17.

Source: South African Government News Agency