Covid-19

A man receives his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 in Mexico City, on 15 February 2021, as Mexico begins vaccinating people over 60 years of age. Photo: AFP/Claudio Cruz

COVID-19 update: New cases declining as fewer tests are conducted

South Africa currently has a cumulative COVID-19 caseload of 1 492 909 along with 48 094 deaths and 1 391 155 recoveries.

Covid-19

A man receives his first dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine against COVID-19 in Mexico City, on 15 February 2021, as Mexico begins vaccinating people over 60 years of age. Photo: AFP/Claudio Cruz

The latest COVID-19 figures have been released. According to the Health Ministry, 1 102 new cases were identified in South Africa. As of today, the death toll stands at 48 094 with recoveries at 1 391 155.

COVID-19 update: 15 February 2021

Breakdown of new confirmed COVID-19 cases

As per Health Minister Zweli Mkhize’s report, 1 102 confirmed cases were identified during the past 24 hours (1 744 on 14 February 2020). Unfortunately, we also lost 195 patients to COVID-19-related illnesses.

As per the report: 25 patients from the Eastern Cape passed away, 11 from the Free State, 58 from Gauteng, 3 from KwaZulu-Natal, 30 from North West, 6 from Northern Cape and 62 from Western Cape.

At the time of publishing, the Health Ministry recorded 8 712 844 cumulative COVID-19 tests, of which 15 788 were done during the past 24 hours: 8 417 at public facilities and 7 361 at private facilities.

New cases, deaths and recoveries by province

The confirmed COVID-19 cases per province is as follows:

ProvinceTotal Cases in South AfricaTotal DeathsTotal RecoveriesActive Cases currently
Eastern Cape193 35711 130180 9701 257
Free State78 7233 00168 288 7 434
Gauteng398 7969 239384 3115 246
KwaZulu-Natal324 9449 316296 99518 633
Limpopo60 7921 63357 4541 705
Mpumalanga69 0451 18965 8691 987
North West59 4901 05752 9995 434
Northern Cape33 14062728 8923 621
Western Cape274 62210 902255 3778 343
Unallocated0

COVID-19 updates from around the world

AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine update

Global: The World Health Organisation gives emergency use approval to AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccines, allowing distribution to some of the world’s poorest countries to begin.

New Zealand’s biggest city begins a snap three-day lockdown, forcing two million people to stay at home, as authorities scramble to contain the nation’s first outbreak of the highly contagious UK variant.

Iraq will re-impose partial lockdown measures until early March after detecting the UK strain of the coronavirus, including among children, its health minister announces. 

United Kingdom: Britain intends to seek a “cautious but irreversible” ending of its lockdown restrictions, Prime Minister Boris Johnson says as the government introduces mandatory hotel quarantine rules for arrivals from dozens of countries deemed “high risk”.

Palestine: The Palestinian Authority pushes back the rollout of its coronavirus vaccination campaign due to a delay in deliveries.

South Africa: Children go back to school across South Africa after the continent’s hardest-hit country emerges from a second wave of the virus.

Global statistics

At the time of publishing, COVID-19 is affecting 219 countries and territories. The global caseload stands at 109,582,809, with the death toll at 2,415,672 and recoveries at 81,874,147.

The US is the worst-affected with 497,690 deaths from 28,287,232 cases. After the US, the hardest-hit countries are India with 155,836 deaths from 10,925,208 cases, and Brazil with 239,359 deaths from 9,840,002.

Russia has 80,520 deaths from 4,086,090 cases while the UK recorded 117,396 deaths from 4,047,843 cases. South Africa is currently 16th on the list, preceded by Iran, Poland, Mexico, Argentina, Columbia, Germany, Turkey, Italy, Spain, and France.