The institute reports 8,179 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 908 020. This increase represents a 22.6% 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 55 deaths, and of these, 18 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 100,867 to date.
24 963 628 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 13,621,080 | 13,621,080 | 20,350 | 20,350 |
| Public | 11,342,548 | 11,342,548 | 15,802 | 15,802 |
| Total | 24,963,628 | 100.0% | 36,152 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (38%) followed by Western Cape (21%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 15%; Eastern Cape accounted for 8% and Free State accounted for 7%. Northern Cape accounted for 4%; Mpumalanga & North West each accounted for 3% respectively, and Limpopo accounted for 1% of today’s cases
The cumulative number of cases by province are shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 17 May 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 17 May 2022 | Incident infections for 18 May 2022 | Possible reinfections for 18 May 2022 | New cases on 18 May 2022 | Total cases for 18 May 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 355,191 | 0 | 355,191 | 550 | 100 | 650 | 355,841 | 9.1 |
| Free State | 210,272 | 0 | 210,272 | 469 | 95 | 564 | 210,836 | 5.4 |
| Gauteng | 1,288,283 | 0 | 1,288,283 | 2,615 | 504 | 3,119 | 1,291,402 | 33.0 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 702,238 | 0 | 702,238 | 1,055 | 160 | 1,215 | 703,453 | 18.0 |
| Limpopo | 157,639 | 0 | 157,639 | 47 | 10 | 57 | 157,696 | 4.0 |
| Mpumalanga | 197,830 | 0 | 197,830 | 227 | 54 | 281 | 198,111 | 5.1 |
| North West | 197,652 | 0 | 197,652 | 199 | 45 | 244 | 197,896 | 5.1 |
| Northern Cape | 111,738 | 0 | 111,738 | 232 | 64 | 296 | 112,034 | 2.9 |
| Western Cape | 678,998 | 0 | 678,998 | 1,445 | 308 | 1,753 | 680,751 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,899,841 | 0 | 3,899,841 | 6,839 | 1,340 | 8,179 | 3,908,020 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is (22.6%), and is higher than yesterday (20.9%). The 7-day average is (23.1%) today, and is lower than yesterday (23.4%)
For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 145 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 | 262 | 243,433 | 40,094 | 1,632 |
| Public | 407 | 284,319 | 62,637 | 1,577 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 527,752 | 102,731 | 3,209 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.