Covid-19: SA records 10 748 new cases as death toll climbs by 170

23rd August 2021 By: News24Wire

Covid-19: SA records 10 748 new cases as death toll climbs by 170

Photo by: Reuters

South Africa recorded 10 748 new confirmed Covid-19 cases and 170 deaths, taking the death toll to 79 421 on Sunday.

According to a statement by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, as of Sunday, the country recorded 2 690 973 laboratory-confirmed cases.

"The National Institute for Communicable Diseases [NICD] … reports that 10 748 new Covid-19 cases have been identified in South Africa, representing a 20.7% positivity rate," the statement said.

Gauteng is the most impacted, with 898 181 confirmed cases, followed by the Western Cape with 466 463 and KwaZulu-Natal with 454 150.

"The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal [31%], followed by the Western Cape [22%]. The Eastern Cape accounted for 16%; Gauteng accounted for 10%; Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; Free State and Northern Cape accounted for 5% each; North West accounted for 4%, and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today's new cases," said NICD spokesperson Sinenhlanhla Jimoh.

KwaZulu-Natal recorded 3 369 new cases on Sunday, with the Western Cape recording 2 336 and Gauteng 2 667.

There has been an increase of  219 admissions in the past 24 hours.

There are currently 13 510 people admitted to both public and private hospitals.

South Africa has conducted  16 003 114 tests, of which 51 830 have been carried out in the last 24 hours.

The recovery rate is currently at 90.8%, which translates to 2 444 409 recoveries.

According to the Department of Health, 10 527 363 vaccines have been administered and of those, 23 910 were administered in the last 24 hours.

To date, 2 461 841 people are fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, while 2 370 922 have been vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.