POLITICS

3 658 new Covid cases in SA today – NICD

Institute says positivity rate now down to 9.2%, with 198 hospital admissions in past 24 hours

Latest confirmed cases of Covid-19 in SA

18 January 2022

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, continues to provide laboratory-based surveillance to inform the public health response towards COVID-19 in South Africa.

Today the institute reports 3 658 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 564 578. This increase represents a 9.2% positivity rate. 

Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 100 deaths and of these, 30 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 93 551 to date.

21 855 117 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.

Sector

Total tested

New tested

Private

11,808,075

54%

21,869

55.1%

Public

10,047,042

46%

17,785

44.9%

Total

21,855,117

 

39,654

 

 PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province and KwaZulu-Natal (22% each), followed by Western Cape (20%). Eastern Cape accounted for 9%; Limpopo accounted for 8%; North West accounted for 6%; Free State and Mpumalanga each accounted for 5% respectively; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:

Province

Total cases for 17 January 2022

Adjusted numbers after harmonisation

Updated total cases on 17 January 2022

New cases on 18 January 2022

Total cases for 18 January 2022

Percentage total

Eastern Cape

338410

0

338410

329

338739

9.5

Free State

194294

4

194298

191

194489

5.5

Gauteng

1155973

-27

1155946

814

1156760

32.5

KwaZulu-Natal

636108

1

636109

794

636903

17.9

Limpopo

145988

1

145989

305

146294

4.1

Mpumalanga

181065

8

181073

191

181264

5.1

North West

183064

12

183076

202

183278

5.1

Northern Cape

105764

-4

105760

87

105847

3.0

Western Cape

620255

4

620259

745

621004

17.4

Total

3560921

-1

3560920

3658

3564578

100.0

 

THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE

The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 9.2% which is lower than yesterday (9.3%). The 7-day average is 12.1% today, which is lower than yesterday (12.8%). The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has decreased.

For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.

HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 198 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. The following table is a summary of reported COVID-19 admissions by sector.

Sector

Facilities Reporting

Admissions
to Date

Died to Date

Currently Admitted

Private

259

222770

38607

2857

Public

407

267776

60746

4506

TOTAL

666

490546

99353

7363

VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.

Thank you for your interest and remember that adhering to the following preventative measures helps to limit your risk of contracting and spreading COVID-19:

Getting vaccinated for COVID-19

Wearing your mask properly to cover your nose

Opting to gather in ventilated spaces

Avoid unnecessary gatherings

Keeping a social distance of one meter or more

Washing your hands regularly in the day with soap and water

For more information on COVID-19, click here.

Issued by NICD, 18 January 2022