The NICD reports 1,558 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,702,042This increase represents a 5.3% positivity rate.
Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 39 deaths and of these, 6 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,868 to date.
23,543,564 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,793,426 | 54.3% | 16,406 | 55.9% |
| Public | 10,750,138 | 45.7% | 12,925 | 44.1% |
| Total | 23,543,564 | 100.0% | 29,331 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (36%), followed by Western Cape (28%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 18%; Free State and Mpumalanga each accounted for 4% respectively; Eastern Cape and North West each accounted for 3% respectively; Limpopo accounted for 2%; and Northern Cape accounted for 1% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province are shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 17 March 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 17 March 2022 | New cases on 18 March 2022 | Total cases for 18 March 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 344,395 | 0 | 344,395 | 50 | 344,445 | 9.3 |
| Free State | 201,811 | 0 | 201,811 | 68 | 201,879 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,202,361 | 0 | 1,202,361 | 563 | 1,202,924 | 32.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 656,723 | 0 | 656,723 | 281 | 657,004 | 17.7 |
| Limpopo | 155,431 | 0 | 155,431 | 35 | 155,466 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 192,646 | 0 | 192,646 | 56 | 192,702 | 5.2 |
| North West | 192,285 | 0 | 192,285 | 44 | 192,329 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 108,712 | 0 | 108,712 | 22 | 108,734 | 2.9 |
| Western Cape | 646,120 | 0 | 646,120 | 439 | 646,559 | 17.5 |
| Total | 3,700,484 | 0 | 3,700,484 | 1,558 | 3,702,042 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 5.3%, which is lower than yesterday (5.8%). The 7-day average is 5.6% today, which is the lower than yesterday (5.9%).
For detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 39 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 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 | 231,644 | 39,345 | 812 |
| Public | 407 | 278,407 | 62,119 | 1,212 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 510,051 | 101,464 | 2,024 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.