COVID INFECTIONS HIGHEST SINCE JANUARY

South Africa has been hit hard by the third wave, and it's visible in the numbers. More than 13,000 new Covid infections have been recorded since Tuesday.

IOL reports that the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NCID) has confirmed that 13,246 new cases were reported, with a total of 95,772 active cases in the country right now.

"These concerning figures represent the highest number of daily cases and positivity rate recorded since January 2021. The total number of laboratory-confirmed cases increased to 1,774,312," the NCID said.

While the Northern Cape, Free State, North West and Gauteng are officially in a third wave, the other provinces are also seeing an increase in infections.

Gauteng has been identified as a hotspot as the province has the most positive cases in the country.

Doctor Angelique Coetzee, the chairperson of the South African Medical Association, has suggested that government close schools in a bid to fight the high infection rate. The Department of Basic Education has dismissed this.

Dr Coetzee told EWN that people and the government aren't acting in the appropriate way.

"People carry on as if everything is right. Everything is not right. We are in a pandemic, we are in a third wave and a third wave that's going to be worse. At this stage, all the indications are that it is going to be worse than the second wave."

According to the Department of Health, the current recovery rate is 91.3%.

Image credit: Gauteng Provincial Legislature