On the day SA officially launched its digital e-vaccination portal another 132 Covid-19 related deaths were reported, bringing total fatalities since the start of the pandemic to 88,236.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said in an update on Friday evening that 924 new Covid-19 cases had been identified in the country. The total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to date now stands at 2,910,681.

The majority of new cases were from the Western Cape (22%), followed by KwaZulu-Natal (19%) and Gauteng (15%). Limpopo recorded the lowest number of new cases for the day at 4%.

There was an increase of 83 in hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

The total number of patients now admitted in hospitals is 5,637.

Health minister Dr Joe Phaahla welcomed the new e-certificates on Friday, saying they  would allow people access to spaces others would be prohibited from entering.

He said the third wave had been the longest in the country so far — 110 days — but added there was a “deep sense of relief” as infections, hospitalisations and deaths “consistently drop”, reported TimesLIVE.

TimesLIVE