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Standard Bank Group
COVID-19 tracker 31 May 2021

SA returns to an amended lockdown Level 2

Shireen Darmalingam

Vaccine update:

  • Globally, over 1.86 billion doses have been administered across 176 countries at a rate of 32.2 million doses a day.
  • Japan is considering either mandating testing or vaccinations for spectators at the Tokyo Olympics. 
  • Japan has been struggling to keep infections under control and speed up vaccinations.
  • GSK is in talks with global regulators for approval of its Covid antibody drug sotrovimab.
  • Sanofi and GSK are starting phase 3 trials of their vaccine to establish efficacy against the original virus strain and the variant detected in SA.
  • AstraZeneca is in consultations with a German laboratory that may have discovered the cause of the rare blood clotting linked to its vaccine.
  • India has begun talks with Pfizer to start importing its vaccine as early as July.
  • President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that SA has "secured" more than 50 million vaccines, but currently has only 1.3 million doses in the country that are ready to be administered; 968,319 vaccines have been administered to date.

Global cases update:

  • Cases have surpassed 171.03 million, while the death toll has surpassed 3.55 million; recoveries are at 153.13 million.
  • The US has reported the lowest level of infections since the early days of the pandemic. The US has 34.04 million cases, accounting for 20% of global cases; the US death toll is 609,544. 
  • India has 28.04 million cases and 329,127 deaths; Brazil has 16.51 million cases and 462,092 deaths.
  • Malaysia has announced new restrictions as the availability of ICU beds tightens. 
  • China has ordered a Guangzhou neighbourhood to stay home.

Africa cases update: 

  • Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 4.87 million; fatalities are at 130,665.
  • Morocco has 519,108 reported cases, Nigeria 166,315, Ghana 93,898, Kenya 170,647.
  • Nigeria has implemented new lockdown restrictions to try and curb the spread of the virus.
  • Stretched resources have had a dire impact on Africa’s death toll. According to research published in The Lancet, almost half of critically ill patients admitted to hospital with COVID-19 died within 30 days. 

South Africa cases update:

  • SA currently has the 20th highest caseload, at 1.662 million; 3,755 new cases were reported yesterday.
  • Covid-19 deaths rose by 76 yesterday, to 56,439; 1.556 million people (or 93.6%) have recovered from the virus.
  • Provincial caseload: Gauteng 456,764 (accounting for 27,4% of the total); KwaZulu-Natal has 339,811 (20,4% of the total); Western Cape 293,592 (17,6% of the total).
  • Provincial deaths: Western Cape 11,809; Gauteng 11,207; KwaZulu-Natal 10,509.
  • 11.6 million tests have been conducted since 5 March 2020.
  • President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that SA would move to an adjusted Level 2 lockdown from today as infections have been rising.
  • The night-time curfew was extended by an hour to start at 11 pm until 4 am.
  • Non-essential businesses are to close at 10pm.
  • A maximum of 100 people would be allowed at indoor social gatherings and no more than 250 at an outdoor gathering. 
  • The positivity rate among tests conducted is at 11.9% and now is “a cause for concern.”

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