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COVID-19 tracker 15 February 2021

SA vaccine rollout to kick off this week

Shireen Darmalingam

Global update:

  • Global cases have surpassed 109.39 million, while the death toll has surpassed 2.41 million; recoveries are at 81.47 million.
  • The US has 28.26 million cases, accounting for 26% of global cases; the death toll is 497,174. 
  • India has 10.91 million cases and 155,764 deaths; Brazil 9.83 million cases and 239,294 deaths; Russia 4.07 million cases.
  • The UK has confirmed that schools would likely reopen early next month after the target of vaccinating everyone over the age of 70 has been met. 
  • Italy has extended its ban on skiing until 5 March as infections continue to rise.
  • Japan has approved the Pfizer vaccine; vaccinations are expected to begin this Wednesday.
  • Hong Kong is expected to start inoculations in early March. 
  • More than 173 million doses have been administered across 77 countries at a rate of 5.96 million doses a day.

Africa update:

  • Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 3.77 million; fatalities are at 98,601.
  • Morocco has 478,474 reported cases, Nigeria 146,184, Ghana 75,836, Kenya 102,867.
  • The World Health Organization has encouraged African countries to use the AstraZeneca vaccine despite efficacy concerns over the SA variant.
  • The Africa CDC has also recommended that countries without the SA variant to use the AstraZeneca vaccine.

South Africa update:

  • SA currently has the 16th highest caseload, at 1.491 million; 1,744 new cases were reported yesterday.
  • Covid-19 deaths rose by 78 yesterday, to 47,899; 1.388 million people (or 93%) have recovered from the virus.
  • Gauteng has the highest number of confirmed cases, at 398,506 (accounting for 26.7% of the total); 9,181 deaths have been reported. 
  • The Western Cape has 274,513 (accounting for 18.4% of the total) and 10,840 deaths, while KwaZulu-Natal has 324,754 (accounting for 21.8% of the total) and 9,313 deaths.
  • The Eastern Cape has 193,334 cases (accounting for 13% of the total) and 11,105 deaths.
  • 8.69 million tests have been conducted since 5 March; 24,470 tests were conducted yesterday.
  • The SA government has secured 9 million J&J vaccines; 80,000 shots are expected to arrive this week and around 500,000 over the next 4 weeks. 12 million vaccines have been sourced from the Covax facility and 20 million from Pfizer.
  • Following the AstraZeneca vaccine debacle, research shows that the Pfizer vaccine protects against the variants that emerged in the UK and SA. 
  • The SA health minister commented that despite the AstraZeneca vaccination setback, the vaccination programme is expected to kick off this week; healthcare workers are expected to receive the first doses.
  • There is also still some hope that the AstraZeneca vaccine might prove as effective as the J&J vaccine in a different age group in protecting against severe disease. 
  • The SA government aims to have inoculated two-thirds of the population by year-end.

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