Joburg and Tshwane seeing bulk of new Covid-19 infections in Gauteng

There are 3,062 people in hospital for Covid-19 in Gauteng, the health department said on Sunday.

The province has seen a total of 471,613 cases with 438,701 recoveries and 11,404 deaths as at Saturday.

By Friday, 346,914 people had been vaccinated in the province.

New cases are most prevalent in the two metros — Johannesburg with 1,091 and Tshwane with 858 — followed by Ekurhuleni with 552.

Gauteng premier David Makhura on Friday said, “Over the past three weeks, evidence showed we have sustained increases in the number of infections. The spike is increasing.”

He added that Gauteng now accounted for at least half of daily cases reported nationally.

The Government and private sector are committed to the successful rollout of the vaccine to reduce the spread of Covid-19, said Makhura. There are 103 vaccination sites in the province, 63 of which are in the public sector.

“We will ensure that all vaccination sites make adequate plans for walk-ins. No person will be turned away from vaccination sites even if they are not registered [on the vaccine portal] to ensure that they get vaccinated.”

He reminded citizens that the vaccine provides the best chance of reducing new infections, severe illness, hospitalisation and death.

TimesLIVE