The NICD reports 1,287 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,703,329. This increase represents a 5.0% 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 11 deaths and of these, 3 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,879 to date.
23,569,125 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,808,887 | 54.3% | 15,461 | 60.5% |
| Public | 10,760,238 | 45.7% | 10,100 | 39.5% |
| Total | 23,569,125 | 100.0% | 25,561 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (37%), followed by Western Cape (25%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 21% and North West accounted for 5%. Eastern Cape, Free State, Limpopo & Mpumalanga each accounted for 3% respectively; 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 18 March 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 18 March 2022 | Incident infections for 19 March 2022 | Possible reinfections for 19 March 2022 | New cases on 19 March 2022 | Total cases for 19 March 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 344,445 | 0 | 344,445 | 30 | 4 | 34 | 344,479 | 9.3 |
| Free State | 201,879 | 0 | 201,879 | 37 | 8 | 45 | 201,924 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,202,924 | -6 | 1,202,918 | 403 | 67 | 470 | 1,203,388 | 32.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 657,004 | 1 | 657,005 | 247 | 23 | 270 | 657,275 | 17.7 |
| Limpopo | 155,466 | 2 | 155,468 | 28 | 5 | 33 | 155,501 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 192,702 | 1 | 192,703 | 37 | 2 | 39 | 192,742 | 5.2 |
| North West | 192,329 | 1 | 192,330 | 57 | 5 | 62 | 192,392 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 108,734 | 0 | 108,734 | 14 | 1 | 15 | 108,749 | 2.9 |
| Western Cape | 646,559 | 1 | 646,560 | 286 | 33 | 319 | 646,879 | 17.5 |
| Total | 3,702,042 | 0 | 3,702,042 | 1,139 | 148 | 1,287 | 3,703,329 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 5.0%, which is lower than yesterday (5.3%). The 7-day average is 5.5% today, which is the lower than yesterday (5.6%)
For detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 14 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 | 231,659 | 39,347 | 807 |
| Public | 407 | 278,423 | 62,119 | 1210 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 510,082 | 101,466 | 2,017 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.