Covid19 Update: 7 209 New Cases Recorded, Lower Numbers Being Questioned
- The NCID reported a drop in new coronavirus cases with 7 209 new cases recorded in the last 24 hours
- Gauteng is still the epicentre and now accounts for 30% of the new cases, followed by the Western Cape accounting for 17%
- Health Deputy Director-General Dr Nicholas Crisp says the new Covid-19 figures need to be investigated
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South Africa has recorded 7 209 new Covid-19 cases, which brings the total number of confirmed cases to 2,302,304, according to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).
The Department of Health has reported 221 Covid-19-related deaths, bringing total fatalities to 67,080 to date.
Source: Getty Images
Gauteng accounted for 36% of the new cases with the Western Cape accounting for 17%, followed by Mpumalanga with 10% and KwaZulu-Natal at 9%. Limpopo and North West provinces each accounted for 7%.
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The remaining provinces accounted for less than 5% each with the Northern Cape accounting for 2% of the new cases.
The newest Covid-19 results, according to Health Deputy Director-General Dr Nicholas Crisp, appear to be too low to be realistic. According to eNCA, fewer Covid-19 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours. Just over 26 000 tests were conducted compared to the usual 50 000-plus tests a day.
In an interview with eNCA, Crisp says that the numbers need to be investigated as they don't match the pattern of the infection rate that has been studied.
A large number of people registering to get their Covid-19 jab
Crisp added the Covid-19 vaccination looks promising stating that the number of people registering to receive their Covid-19 vaccine was encouraging and the department was hoping to see more over the 40s going in to get vaccinated.
"In the first day of the registrations for over 35s, we had more than a million and half a million in the next day. The numbers are moving very fast now," he said.
Not a lot of vaccines were destroyed during the unrest in KwaZulu-Natal
Dr Crisp says although some vaccines that were allocated into the distribution network of the private sector were destroyed during the unrest, he says the majority of vaccines were protected.
He added that the public sector vaccines were spread over a large number of facilities. He went on to further say that the department lost a lot of opportunities to vaccinate people due to the unrest.
He said around 300 000 opportunities to vaccinate were lost.
Sahpra says reports of Ivermectin approval are fake news
Briefly News recently reported a screenshot of a SABC News social media post with a breaking news tag claiming Ivermectin has been approved by the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (Sahpra) for treatment of coronavirus patients is not true.
Yuven Gounden, a spokesperson for Sahpra, acknowledged the reports were fake. Sahpra further acknowledged that the screenshot being circulated is old and should not be circulated, according to a report by News24.
Hlengiwe Nhlabathi-Mokota, acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi's spokesperson also confirmed that the reports were false and the medication had not been approved for use of Covid-19.
Nhlabathi-Mokota added that the medication may be used in special circumstances by doctors under Section 21 of the Medicines and Related Substances Control Act as per Sahpra regulations. Sahpra decided in February to allow doctors to begin Ivermectin treatment.
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Source: Briefly News
