The NICD reports 1,456 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,658,547. This increase represents a 7.2% 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 50 deaths and of these, 1 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 98,667 to date.
22,880,879 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,411,014 | 54.2% | 13,254 | 65.3% |
| Public | 10,469,865 | 45.8% | 7,034 | 34.7% |
| Total | 22,880,879 | 100.0% | 20,288 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (39%), followed by Western Cape (20%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 12%; North West accounted for 9%; Mpumalanga accounted for 7%; Free State accounted for 5%; Eastern Cape and Limpopo each accounted for 3% respectively; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province are shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 19 Feb 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 19 Feb 2022 | New cases on 20 Feb 2022 | Total cases for 20 Feb 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 342,824 | 0 | 342,824 | 49 | 342,873 | 9.4 |
| Free State | 199,800 | 0 | 199,800 | 78 | 199,878 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,186,517 | 0 | 1,186,517 | 562 | 1,187,079 | 32.4 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 649,479 | 0 | 649,479 | 170 | 649,649 | 17.8 |
| Limpopo | 154,118 | 0 | 154,118 | 38 | 154,156 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 190,014 | 0 | 190,014 | 102 | 190,116 | 5.2 |
| North West | 189,712 | 0 | 189,712 | 137 | 189,849 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 108,028 | 0 | 108,028 | 35 | 108,063 | 3.0 |
| Western Cape | 636,599 | 0 | 636,599 | 285 | 636,884 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,657,091 | 0 | 3,657,091 | 1,456 | 3,658,547 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 7.2%, which is lower than yesterday (7.5%). The 7-day average is 8.0% today, which is lower than yesterday (8.1%).
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HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 17 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 | 228,759 | 39,081 | 1,486 |
| Public | 407 | 275,671 | 61,911 | 1,770 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 504,430 | 100,992 | 3,256 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.