South Africa has recorded 22 391 new COVID-19 cases, representing a 29.8% positivity rate.

This means there are now 3 093 452 laboratory-confirmed cases since the outbreak, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said on Thursday.

This as there has been19 988 045 tests conducted.

Gauteng recorded the highest number of infections after 11 791 people tested positive.

The province is followed by 2 756 cases in KwaZulu-Natal, 2 194 in the Western Cape, 1 308 in the North West, 1008 in Free State and 1 055 in Limpopo. The rest of the provinces recorded less than 1 000 additional infections.

In addition, 22 more people succumbed to the virus, pushing the death toll to 90 060 to date.

Meanwhile, hospital admissions now stand at 4 795 after 453 patients were admitted in the past 24 hours.

The Department of Health administered 127 315 COVID-19 vaccines on Thursday, of which 25 551 were given to children.

According to the latest data, this brings the number of distributed jabs to 26 917 603 since the rollout programme, while 15 050 133 or 37.5% adults are now fully vaccinated.

In addition, the number of children aged between 12 and 17 who received their first jab of the Pfizer vaccine has risen to 707 483.

Globally, as of 9 December 2021, there have been 267 184 623 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 5 277 327 deaths, reported to World Health Organisation.

In addition, over eight billion vaccine doses have been administered as of 8 December 2021.

Source: South African Government News Agency