The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, continues to monitor various data sources related to the evolving nature of South Africa’s COVID-19 pandemic.
Today, the institute reports 4,406 new COVID-19 cases in South Africa, bringing the overall number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,750, 830. This rise reflects a 15.8% increase in positivity rate. “The public should exercise caution in interpreting these data as there may be changes in test patterns. An early warning indicator, wastewater detection surveillance, shows an increase in Gauteng”, comments NICD Executive Director, Prof Adrian Puren. He adds that there is currently no evidence that the Omicron variant of concern is being displaced as the dominant circulating variant.
There may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported due to the current audit effort by the National Department of Health (NDoH). Today, the NDoH reports 65 fatalities, with 5 occurring during the last 24 – 48 hours. This puts the overall number of fatalities to 100,276.
24,262,108 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 13,203,708 | 54.4% | 16,839 | 60.4% |
| Public | 11,058,400 | 45.6% | 11,036 | 39.6% |
| Total | 24,262,108 | 100.0% | 27,875 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (49%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (22%). Western Cape accounted for 15% and Eastern Cape accounted for 5%. Free State, Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 2% respectively; Limpopo and Northern Cape each accounted for 1% of today’s new cases respectively.
The cumulative number of cases by province are shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 20 April 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 20 April 2022 | Incident infections for 21 April 2022 | Possible reinfections for 21 April 2022 | New cases on 21 April 2022 | Total cases for 21 April 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 346,491 | 0 | 346,491 | 198 | 30 | 228 | 346,719 | 9,2 |
| Free State | 203,066 | 0 | 203,066 | 84 | 18 | 102 | 203,168 | 5,4 |
| Gauteng | 1,221,826 | 0 | 1,221,826 | 1,835 | 322 | 2,157 | 1,223,983 | 32,6 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 666,114 | 0 | 666,114 | 832 | 153 | 985 | 667,099 | 17,8 |
| Limpopo | 156,121 | 0 | 156,121 | 35 | 16 | 51 | 156,172 | 4,2 |
| Mpumalanga | 193,952 | 0 | 193,952 | 71 | 18 | 89 | 194,041 | 5,2 |
| North West | 193,567 | 0 | 193,567 | 68 | 8 | 76 | 193,643 | 5,2 |
| Northern Cape | 109,134 | 0 | 109,134 | 31 | 6 | 37 | 109,171 | 2,9 |
| Western Cape | 656,153 | 0 | 656,153 | 566 | 115 | 681 | 656,834 | 17,5 |
| Total | 3,746,424 | 0 | 3,746,424 | 3,720 | 686 | 4,406 | 3,750,830 | 100,0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is (15.8%), and is higher than yesterday (13.4%). The 7-day average is (10.4%) today, and is higher than yesterday (9.2%).
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HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 66 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. “There is evidence of small increases in COVID-19 hospitalisation in Gauteng, Free State and KwaZulu-Natal but we have seen no increases in COVID-19 hospital deaths,” notes Dr Waasila Jassat, Lead of the DATCOV COVID-19 National Hospital Surveillance at the Division of Public Health Surveillance and Response.
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 | 237,739 | 39,867 | 1058 |
| Public | 407 | 280,162 | 62,281 | 1087 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 517,901 | 102,148 | 2,145 |
VACCINE UPDATE
The NICD recommends that persons who have not been vaccinated against COVID-19 be vaccinated and get booster shots as needed. Persons over the age of 65, those at risk of serious disease, and those eligible for boosters should take advantage of the shorter time to immunization.
“Respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) season is ongoing and we have noticed sporadic cases of influenza. Influenza vaccination is therefore strongly encouraged for all high-risk groups (healthcare workers in the workplace, people age 65 and older, women who are pregnant and individuals with co-morbidities such as heart disease, high blood pressure, chronic respiratory diseases, cancer and diabetes)”, stresses Dr Sibongile Walaza, Medical Epidemiologist at the Centre for Respiratory Diseases and Meningitis.
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