The NICD reports 1,436 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,686,556. This increase represents a 5.5% 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 16 deaths and of these, 0 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99,625 to date.
23,285,855 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 12,651,102 | 54.3% | 15,279 | 58.7% |
| Public | 10,634,753 | 45.7% | 10,737 | 41.3% |
| Total | 23,285,855 | 100.0% | 26,016 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (35%), followed by Western Cape (23%). Kwa-Zulu Natal accounted for 18%; Eastern Cape accounted for 6%; North West accounted for 5%; Free State and Mpumalanga each accounted for 4% respectively; 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 7 March 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 7 March 2022 | New cases on 8 March 2022 | Total cases for 8 March 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 343,828 | 0 | 343,828 | 81 | 343,909 | 9.3 |
| Free State | 201,203 | 0 | 201,203 | 58 | 201,261 | 5.5 |
| Gauteng | 1,196,846 | 6 | 1,196,852 | 505 | 1,197,357 | 32.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 654,069 | 0 | 654,069 | 257 | 654,326 | 17.7 |
| Limpopo | 154,922 | 2 | 154,924 | 41 | 154,965 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 191,898 | 0 | 191,898 | 58 | 191,956 | 5.2 |
| North West | 191,563 | -10 | 191,553 | 71 | 191,624 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 108,481 | 2 | 108,483 | 31 | 108,514 | 2.9 |
| Western Cape | 642,310 | 0 | 642,310 | 334 | 642,644 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,685,120 | 0 | 3,685,120 | 1,436 | 3,686,556 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 5.5%, which is the same as yesterday (5.5%). The 7-day average is 6.2% today, which is lower than yesterday (6.3%).
For detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 46 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 | 230,191 | 39,157 | 1,143 |
| Public | 407 | 277,565 | 62,040 | 1,335 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 507,756 | 101,197 | 2,478 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.