The NICD reports 3,056 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,652,024. This increase represents an 8.8% 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 435 deaths and of these, 17 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 97,955 to date.
22,796,653 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,362,348 | 54.2% | 18,617 | 53.9% |
| Public | 10,434,305 | 45.8% | 15,919 | 46.1% |
| Total | 22,796,653 | 100.0% | 34,536 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (37%), followed by Western Cape (18%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 14%; North West accounted for 10%; Mpumalanga accounted for 8%; Free State accounted for 5%; Eastern Cape accounted for 4%; Limpopo accounted for 3%; 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 16 Feb 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 16 Feb 2022 | New cases on 17 Feb 2022 | Total cases for 17 Feb 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 342,520 | 0 | 342,520 | 107 | 342,627 | 9.4 |
| Free State | 199,371 | 0 | 199,371 | 151 | 199,522 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,183,430 | 0 | 1,183,430 | 1,129 | 1,184,559 | 32.4 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 648,440 | 0 | 648,440 | 414 | 648,854 | 17.8 |
| Limpopo | 153,807 | 0 | 153,807 | 93 | 153,900 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 189,336 | 0 | 189,336 | 253 | 189,589 | 5.2 |
| North West | 189,084 | 1 | 189,085 | 313 | 189,398 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 107,885 | -3 | 107,882 | 60 | 107,942 | 3.0 |
| Western Cape | 635,095 | 2 | 635,097 | 536 | 635,633 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,648,968 | 0 | 3,648,968 | 3,056 | 3,652,024 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 8.8%, which is lower than yesterday (9.7%). The 7-day average is 8.2% today, and is the same as yesterday (8.2%).
For detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 92 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 | 228,690 | 39,052 | 1,900 |
| Public | 407 | 275,399 | 61,885 | 1,800 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 504,089 | 100,937 | 3,700 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.