Today the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), reports 7,238 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 915 258. This increase represents a 24.8% 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 31 deaths, and of these, 12 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 100,898 to date.
24 992 827 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors as per the table below.
| Sector | Total tested | New tested | ||
| Private | 13,635,544 | 54.6% | 14,464 | 49.5% |
| Public | 11,357,283 | 45.4% | 14,735 | 50.5% |
| Total | 24,992,827 | 100.0% | 29,199 | 100.0% |
PROVINCIAL BREAKDOWN
The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (34%) followed by Western Cape (23%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 15%; Eastern Cape accounted for 10% and Free State accounted for 6%. Northern Cape accounted for 5%; North West accounted for 4%; Mpumalanga accounted for 3% and Limpopo accounted for 1% of today’s cases. The cumulative number of cases by province are shown in the table below:
| Province | Total cases for 18 May 2022 | Adjusted numbers after harmonisation | Updated total cases on 18 May 2022 | Incident infections for 19 May 2022 | Possible reinfections for 19 May 2022 | New cases on 19 May 2022 | Total cases for 19 May 2022 | Percentage total |
| Eastern Cape | 355,841 | 0 | 355,841 | 629 | 107 | 736 | 356,577 | 9.1 |
| Free State | 210,836 | 1 | 210,837 | 345 | 74 | 419 | 211,256 | 5.4 |
| Gauteng | 1,291,402 | 0 | 1,291,402 | 2,038 | 390 | 2,428 | 1,293,830 | 33.0 |
| KwaZulu-Natal | 703,453 | 0 | 703,453 | 944 | 150 | 1,094 | 704,547 | 18.0 |
| Limpopo | 157,696 | 0 | 157,696 | 58 | 15 | 73 | 157,769 | 4.0 |
| Mpumalanga | 198,111 | 0 | 198,111 | 183 | 40 | 223 | 198,334 | 5.1 |
| North West | 197,896 | 1 | 197,897 | 245 | 35 | 280 | 198,177 | 5.1 |
| Northern Cape | 112,034 | -4 | 112,030 | 293 | 43 | 336 | 112,366 | 2.9 |
| Western Cape | 680,751 | 2 | 680,753 | 1,371 | 278 | 1,649 | 682,402 | 17.4 |
| Total | 3,908,020 | 0 | 3,908,020 | 6,106 | 1,132 | 7,238 | 3,915,258 | 100.0 |
THE 7-DAY MOVING AVERAGE NUMBER OF NEW CASES BY PROVINCE
The proportion of positive new cases/total new tested today is (24.8%), and is higher than yesterday (22.6%). The 7-day average is (23.3%) today, and is higher than yesterday (23.1%)
For more detailed information, visit the GIS Dashboard.
HOSPITAL ADMISSIONS
There has been an increase of 136 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 | 262 | 243,698 | 40,096 | 1,649 |
| Public | 407 | 284,544 | 62,636 | 1,634 |
| TOTAL | 669 | 528,242 | 102,732 | 3,283 |
VACCINE UPDATE
For updates on the national vaccine programme, click here.
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