South Africa broke the daily record again on Thursday with 22,391 new Covid-19 cases registered nationwide, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases announced on Friday.
There were now 3,093,452 confirmed cases since the outbreak of the disease in March 2020, the NICD) said.
Gauteng Province, too, broke its own record of having the highest number of infections after 11,791 people tested positive, the health institute said.
The province was followed by 2,194 cases in the Western Cape, some 1,308 cases in the North West, 1,008 cases in Free State and 1,055 cases in Limpopo, it said.
The rest of the provinces recorded less than 1,000 additional infections, the institute said.
Meanwhile, 70 percent of those who have been admitted to hospitals are those who are unvaccinated, Health Minister, Joe Phaahla, said on Friday to stress the importance of vaccines.
According to the minister, while scientists were still conducting more studies if the vaccines worked against the omicron variant, early signs indicated the injections were still effective.
“So, as things stand, the vaccines are showing to be still very strong in protecting against severe diseases as it did with previous variants,” he told reporters during a media briefing.
NM/as/APA