Today the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reports 733 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,915,560. This increase represents a 2.3% positivity rate. As per the National Department of Health, a further 56 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88,562 to date.
18,122,698 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
PRIVATE | 9,765,660 | 54% | 15,422 | 48% |
PUBLIC | 8,357,038 | 46% | 16,435 | 52% |
Total | 18,122,698 | 31,857 |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Western Cape (22%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal accounting for 20%. Gauteng accounted for 15%; Eastern Cape and Free State each accounted for 11% respectively; North West accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga and Northern Cape each accounted for 5% respectively; and Limpopo accounted for 4% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:
Province | Total cases for 14 Oct 2021 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 14 Oct 2021 | New cases on 15 Oct 2021 | Total cases for 15 Oct 2021 | Percentage total |
Eastern Cape | 291,790 | 0 | 291,790 | 78 | 291,868 | 10.0 |
Free State | 162,622 | 0 | 162,622 | 80 | 162,702 | 5.6 |
Gauteng | 918,207 | 0 | 918,207 | 111 | 918,318 | 31.5 |
KwaZulu-Natal | 514,252 | 0 | 514,252 | 147 | 514,399 | 17.6 |
Limpopo | 122,068 | 0 | 122,068 | 32 | 122,100 | 4.2 |
Mpumalanga | 151,513 | 0 | 151,513 | 37 | 151,550 | 5.2 |
North West | 150,168 | 0 | 150,168 | 49 | 150,217 | 5.2 |
Northern Cape | 91,864 | 0 | 91,864 | 38 | 91,902 | 3.2 |
Western Cape | 512,343 | 0 | 512,343 | 161 | 512,504 | 17.6 |
Unknown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
Total | 2,914,827 | 0 | 2,914,827 | 733 | 2,915,560 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is 2.3% which is lower than yesterday (2.7%). The 7-day average is 2.6% today, which is lower than yesterday (2.7%).

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HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 67 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 | 258 | 200,129 | 36,909 | 2,984 |
Public | 408 | 232,637 | 56,693 | 2,095 |
TOTAL | 666 | 432,766 | 93,602 | 5,079 |
VACCINE UPDATE
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