The institute reports 2,597 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,559,230. This increase represents a 10.6%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 86 deaths and of these, 25 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 93,364 to date.
21,797,292 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 11,773,744 | 54.0% | 16,540 | 67.8% |
| Public | 10,023,548 | 46.0% | 7,859 | 32.2% |
| Total | 21,797,292 | 100.0% | 24,399 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Western Cape (28%), followed by Gauteng (23%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 21%; Eastern Cape accounted for 6%; Limpopo, Mpumalanga and Northern Cape each accounted for 5% respectively; North West accounted for 4%; and Free State accounted for 3% of today’s new cases.
The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 15 January 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 15 January 2022 | New cases on 16 January 2022 | Total cases for 16 January 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 338,154 | 0 | 338,154 | 167 | 338,321 | 9.5 |
| Free State | 194,126 | 0 | 194,126 | 82 | 194,208 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,154,906 | 0 | 1,154,906 | 602 | 1,155,508 | 32.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 635,273 | 0 | 635,273 | 547 | 635,820 | 17.9 |
| Limpopo | 145,744 | 0 | 145,744 | 122 | 145,866 | 4.1 |
| Mpumalanga | 180,750 | 0 | 180,750 | 130 | 180,880 | 5.1 |
| North West | 182,866 | 0 | 182,866 | 97 | 182,963 | 5.1 |
| Northern Cape | 105,598 | -2 | 105,596 | 129 | 105,725 | 3.0 |
| Western Cape | 619,216 | 2 | 619,218 | 721 | 619,939 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,556,633 | 0 | 3,556,633 | 2,597 | 3,559,230 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 10.6% which is lower than yesterday (12.5%). The 7-day average is 13.4% today, which is lower than yesterday (14.4%).
For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 42 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 | 222,188 | 38,537 | 2,994 |
| Public | 407 | 266,663 | 60,521 | 4,932 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 488,851 | 99,058 | 7,926 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.