The NICD reports 1,682 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,700,484. This increase represents a 5.8% 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 62 deaths and of these, 3 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,829 to date.
23,514,233 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,777,020 | 54.3% | 17,025 | 58.3% |
| Public | 10,737,213 | 45.7% | 12,156 | 41.7% |
| Total | 23,514,233 | 100.0% | 29,181 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (34%), followed by Western Cape (29%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 19% and Mpumalanga accounted for 5%. Eastern Cape, Free State and North West each accounted for 3% respectively; and Limpopo & Northern Cape each accounted for 2% respectively of today’s new cases
The cumulative number of cases by province are shown in the table below:
| Total cases for 16 March 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 16 March 2022 | Incident infections for 17 March 2022 | Possible reinfections for 17 March 2022 | New cases on 17 March 2022 | Total cases for 17 March 2022 | Percentage total |
| 344,340 | 0 | 344,340 | 49 | 6 | 55 | 344,395 | 9.3 |
| 201,766 | 0 | 201,766 | 39 | 6 | 45 | 201,811 | 5.5 |
| 1,201,790 | 0 | 1,201,790 | 509 | 62 | 571 | 1,202,361 | 32.5 |
| 656,399 | 0 | 656,399 | 294 | 30 | 324 | 656,723 | 17.7 |
| 155,400 | 0 | 155,400 | 26 | 5 | 31 | 155,431 | 4.2 |
| 192,564 | 0 | 192,564 | 70 | 12 | 82 | 192,646 | 5.2 |
| 192,229 | -1 | 192,228 | 54 | 3 | 57 | 192,285 | 5.2 |
| 108,685 | 0 | 108,685 | 24 | 3 | 27 | 108,712 | 2.9 |
| 645,630 | 0 | 645,630 | 412 | 78 | 490 | 646,120 | 17.5 |
| 3,698,803 | -1 | 3,698,802 | 1,477 | 205 | 1,682 | 3,700,484 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 5.8%, which is lower than yesterday (6.2 %). The 7-day average is 5.9% today, which is the lower than yesterday (6.0%)
For detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 41 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 | 231,615 | 39,342 | 832 |
| Public | 407 | 278,340 | 62,110 | 1228 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 509,955 | 101,452 | 2,060 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.