South Africa's 3rd virus wave over but slow vaccinations fan fears

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) – South Africa has seen out a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic but vaccination coverage remains worryingly low in the continent’s worst-hit country, according to data released on Monday.

Some 8.3 million people – just about 14% of South Africa’s population of nearly 60 million – have been fully vaccinated so far.

According to the Health Ministry, more than 16.8 million vaccine doses have been administered in the country, while the overall COVID-19 caseload stands just short of 2.9 million, including more than 87,000 fatalities.

“Nationally we have exited the third wave according to the current definition. The national 7-day moving average of daily case numbers, positivity rate and testing rate continue to decrease, with sustained decreases seen in all provinces,” the National Institute of Communicable Diseases (NICD) said.

The statement came after 967 new infections and 51 fatalities were reported in South Africa on Sunday night, well below the daily average of over 2,000 cases and at least 100 deaths seen in recent weeks.

New hospitalizations also drastically fell to 56 and the total number of admitted patients now stands at 7,172, the NICD data showed.