South Africa has now crossed the 17 million mark of the total number of COVID-19 doses administered.
This comes after 164 097 jabs were distributed on Tuesday, pushing the tally to 17 176 603 since the start of the country’s vaccine rollout programme.
According to the Department of Health, the country is now home to 8 611 747 fully vaccinated adults. Of these, 102 399 people either received their second shot of Pfizer vaccine or a single dose of the Johnson & Johnson jab in the last 24 hours.
In addition, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reported 1 367 new COVID-19 cases, bringing the number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 898 888.
The majority of new infections were reported in KwaZulu-Natal after 372 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus.
The province is followed by 241 cases in the Western Cape, 190 in Gauteng, 185 in the Eastern Cape and 169 in Free State.
“This increase represents an 8.6% positivity rate,” the NICD explained.
According to the latest data, the death toll now stands at 87 417 after 201 patients succumbed to the respiratory disease, while there has been an increase of 158 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.
Globally, as of 28 September 2021, there have been 232 075 351 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 4 752 988 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO).
In addition, the WHO said, over five billion vaccine doses have been administered. – SAnews.gov.za
