The institute reports 4,100 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 594 499. This increase represents a 10.5% 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 160 deaths and of these, 34 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 94,651 to date.
22,159,247 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
Private | 11,983,034 | 54.1% | 21,003 | 54.0% |
Public | 10,176,213 | 45.9% | 17,909 | 46.0% |
Total | 22,159,247 | 100.0% | 38,912 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (29%), followed by Western Cape (15%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 13%; Limpopo and Mpumalanga each accounted for 12% respectively; North West accounted for 8%; Free State accounted for 5%; Eastern Cape accounted for 4%; 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 26 January 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 26 January 2022 | New cases on 27 January 2022 | Total cases for 27 January 2022 | Percentage total |
Eastern Cape | 340,303 | -4 | 340,299 | 174 | 340,473 | 9,5 |
Free State | 195,866 | 1 | 195,867 | 200 | 196,067 | 5,5 |
Gauteng | 1,163,511 | 1 | 1,163,512 | 1,170 | 1,164,682 | 32,4 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 640,885 | 0 | 640,885 | 550 | 641,435 | 17,8 |
Limpopo | 149,034 | 0 | 149,034 | 484 | 149,518 | 4,2 |
Mpumalanga | 183,299 | 0 | 183,299 | 507 | 183,806 | 5,1 |
North West | 185,001 | 2 | 185,003 | 317 | 185,320 | 5,2 |
Northern Cape | 106,653 | 0 | 106,653 | 78 | 106,731 | 3,0 |
Western Cape | 625,847 | 0 | 625,847 | 620 | 626,467 | 17,4 |
Total | 3,590,399 | 0 | 3,590,399 | 4,100 | 3,594,499 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 10.5%, which is lower than yesterday (10.6%). The 7-day average is 9.3% today, and is lower than yesterday (9.4%).

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HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 152 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 | 224,774 | 38,802 | 2,608 |
Public | 407 | 271,133 | 61,248 | 3,258 |
TOTAL | 666 | 495,907 | 100,050 | 5,886 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.