South Africa\u2019s COVID-19 cases have now surpassed 3.5 million after 9 860 people tested positive on Thursday across the country.<\/P>
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), this means there are now 3 504 554 confirmed cases since the outbreak, representing a 21% positivity rate.<\/P>
Data shows that the Western Cape recorded the highest daily infection after 2 632 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus, followed by 2 123 in Gauteng, 2 036 in KwaZulu-Natal and 1 079 in the Eastern Cape, while the rest of the provinces recorded less than 500 cases each.<\/P>
Meanwhile, the Department of Health said the country logged over 500 COVID-19 deaths.<\/P>
However, the department said the rise in the number of fatalities was due to the ongoing audit exercise conducted by provinces to address a backlog of COVID-19 mortality and new cases.<\/P>
\u201cOut of 551 deaths recorded today, only 45 have occurred in the past 48 hours,\u201d the statement read on Thursday.<\/P>
The Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, according to the department, account for 476 historical combined fatalities.<\/P>
\u201cThe identification of these historic deaths is part of the process to align the provincial death line list with excess deaths.<\/P>
\u201cThe provincial COVID-19 dashboards reflect COVID-19 deaths by date of death rather than by date reported, and provides the most accurate trends in deaths in patients with documented SARS-CoV-2 infection,\u201d the department explained.<\/P>
Meanwhile, government has administered 65 204 new COVID-19 vaccine doses, pushing the total to 28 233 512.<\/P>
In addition, 15 737 760 or 39.54% adults are now fully vaccinated, while 963 184 jabs have been given to children.<\/P>
Globally, as of 6 January 2022, there have been 296 496 809 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 5 462 631 deaths, reported to the World Health Organisation (WHO).<\/P>
Global view<\/P>
During the week 27 December 2021 to 2 January 2022, the global number of new cases increased sharply by 71% as compared to the previous week, while the number of new deaths decreased by 10%.<\/P>
\u201cThis corresponds to just under 9.5 million new cases and over 41 000 new deaths reported during the last week,\u201d the agency said.<\/P>
All regions reported a peak in the incidence of weekly cases, with the region of the Americas reporting the largest increase (100%), followed by South-East Asia (78%) and Europe (65%).<\/P>
Meanwhile, Africa reported a weekly increase in the number of new deaths (22%), while all the other regions reported a decrease as compared to the previous week.<\/P>
The highest numbers of new infections were reported from the United States (2 556 690 new cases, 92% increase), the United Kingdom (1 104 316 new cases, 51% increase), France (1 093 162 new cases, 117% increase), Spain (649 832 new cases, 60% increase) and Italy (644 508 new cases, 150% increase).<\/P>
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Source: South African Government News Agency<\/P>
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