Add Your Heading Text Here
South Africa may well be entering the fourth wave of Covid-19 after recording 8 561 new cases nationally on Wednesday, according to an epidemiologist and the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
This was a huge spike in numbers compared to Tuesday, which saw 4 373 cases recorded.
Gauteng seems to have entered its fourth wave earlier than all other provinces – much like it did in the third wave – as it was responsible for 6 168 cases alone on Tuesday. That makes up 72% of the cases recorded.
According to the NICD, there were 155 new hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, taking the total number of current Covid-19 admissions to 2 550. Twenty-eight deaths were recorded in this period, bringing the confirmed death toll to 89 871.
The NICD showed that the country’s numbers on Wednesday indicate a 16.5% positivity rate among the 51 977 tests carried out in the past 24 hours.
President Cyril Ramaphosa urged South Africans to get vaccinated when he made his latest address to the nation on Sunday, but the government is still falling short of its target of vaccinating 300 000 people a day.
Some 165 775 jabs were administered in the 24 hours preceding the latest Covid-19 update. To date, 14 396 445 adults are fully vaccinated while 510 255 children have received one vaccine dose.
The post Fourth wave looms as Covid cases spike above 8 500 appeared first on The Mail & Guardian.
