The NICD reports 1,867 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,688,423. This increase represents a 6.5% 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 13 deaths and of these, 10 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,656 to date.
23,314,522 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,666,705 | 54.3% | 15,603 | 54.4% |
| Public | 10,647,817 | 45.7% | 13,064 | 45.6% |
| Total | 23,314,522 | 100.0% | 28,667 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (37%), followed by Western Cape (26%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 15%; Free State, Mpumalanga and North West each accounted for 5% respectively; Eastern Cape accounted for 4%; Limpopo accounted for 3%; 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 8 March 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 8 March 2022 | New cases on 9 March 2022 | Total cases for 9 March 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 343,909 | 0 | 343,909 | 67 | 343,976 | 9.3 |
| Free State | 201,261 | 0 | 201,261 | 86 | 201,347 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,197,357 | -3 | 1,197,354 | 683 | 1,198,037 | 32.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 654,326 | 1 | 654,327 | 280 | 654,607 | 17.7 |
| Limpopo | 154,965 | 0 | 154,965 | 61 | 155,026 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 191,956 | 0 | 191,956 | 92 | 192,048 | 5.2 |
| North West | 191,624 | 1 | 191,625 | 90 | 191,715 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 108,514 | 0 | 108,514 | 25 | 108,539 | 2.9 |
| Western Cape | 642,644 | 1 | 642,645 | 483 | 643,128 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,686,556 | 0 | 3,686,556 | 1,867 | 3,688,423 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 6.5%, which is higher than yesterday (5.5%). The 7-day average is 6.1% today, which is lower than yesterday (6.2%).
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HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 60 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 | 230,390 | 39,185 | 1,152 |
| Public | 407 | 277,702 | 62,055 | 1,334 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 508,092 | 101,240 | 2,486 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.