Some 21,099 new coronavirus cases were recorded on Wednesday in South Africa — the highest during the past week in the country, a state agency said on Thursday.
According to the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), KwaZulu-Natal, which is currently the epicentre for the fourth wave, accounted for 5,411 new infections in the tally.
The province was followed by the Western Cape with 4,609 cases, and 3,807 cases in Gauteng – the former epicentre only two weeks ago.
The Eastern Cape province registered 2,327 cases on Wednesday, the NICD said.
With 21,099 cases, now the country has 3,353,106 confirmed cases, while the death toll stood at 90,587 after 99 succumbed to the Omicron-driven virus on Wednesday, the institute added.
In addition, 9,324 Covid-19 patients were hospitalised.
Despite the setback, the war on Covid-19 continued in the country, with a total of 27,733,331 people vaccinated since the vaccination programme rolled out in February this year, the health ministry said.
The latest data showed that 15,463,240 or 38.85% adults were now fully jabbed in South Africa, while 17,728,079 people of over 18 years had received at least one shot of the Covid-19 vaccines, according to the ministry.
So far 873,570 vaccines have been given to children aged between 12 and 17 years old. Of these, some 11,496 were administered since the last reporting cycle, the ministry said.
NM/jn/APA