While the death rate may be low and the recovery rate from Covid-19 high, experts continue to advocate for getting the vaccine, saying it can help prevent death and severe illness from the coronavirus.

The national health department reported 1,436 new cases and 16 deaths on Tuesday.

“The cumulative number of recoveries stands at 3,569,441 with a recovery rate of 96.8%,” it said.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, such conditions do not mean people will not require a Covid-19 vaccine.

“Vaccinating the population will make sure people do not develop the disease when exposed to the virus, thus preventing hospitalisation and death,” it said.

The National Institute For Communicable Diseases (NICD) shared the same advice, urging South Africans to get vaccinated.

It suggested one of the reasons why the Omicron variant was less severe may have been because it was met by high vaccination numbers.

The institute noted that during the most recent wave of infections, most people admitted for illness related to Covid-19 were unvaccinated.

A study shared by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found people who have been vaccinated against Covid-19 are less likely to die from the virus and from other causes in the months after vaccination.