Today the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reports 414 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,916,593. This increase represents a 1.8% positivity rate. As per the National Department of Health, a further 25 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 88,612 to date.
18,174,247 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| PRIVATE | 9,793,716 | 54% | 13,476 | 59% |
| PUBLIC | 8,380,531 | 46% | 9,488 | 41% |
| Total | 18,174,247 | 22,964 |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Western Cape (22%), followed by Gauteng accounting for 21%. KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 16%; Free State accounted for 13%; Northern Cape accounted for 11%; Eastern Cape accounted for 7%; North West accounted for 5%; Mpumalanga accounted for 3%; and Limpopo accounted for 2% of today’s new cases. The cumulative number of cases by province is shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 16 Oct 2021 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 16 Oct 2021 | New cases on 17 Oct 2021 | Total cases for 17 Oct 2021 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 291,935 | 0 | 291,935 | 31 | 291,966 | 10.0 |
| Free State | 162,767 | 0 | 162,767 | 52 | 162,819 | 5.6 |
| Gauteng | 918,411 | 0 | 918,411 | 87 | 918,498 | 31.5 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 514,515 | 0 | 514,515 | 67 | 514,582 | 17.6 |
| Limpopo | 122,120 | 0 | 122,120 | 7 | 122,127 | 4.2 |
| Mpumalanga | 151,584 | 0 | 151,584 | 11 | 151,595 | 5.2 |
| North West | 150,259 | 0 | 150,259 | 21 | 150,280 | 5.2 |
| Northern Cape | 91,955 | 0 | 91,955 | 45 | 92,000 | 3.2 |
| Western Cape | 512,633 | 0 | 512,633 | 93 | 512,726 | 17.6 |
| Unknown | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 |
| Total | 2,916,179 | 0 | 2,916,179 | 414 | 2,916,593 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The total number of cases today (n= 414) is lower than yesterday (n= 619) and lower than the average number of cases per day over the 7 preceding days (n= 635).
For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 18 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 | 200,186 | 36,925 | 2,919 |
| Public | 408 | 232,714 | 56,705 | 2,067 |
| TOTAL | 666 | 432,900 | 93,630 | 4,986 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.
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