{"id":497769,"date":"2021-06-11T07:35:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-11T05:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=497769"},"modified":"2021-06-11T07:35:01","modified_gmt":"2021-06-11T05:35:01","slug":"south-africa-officially-enters-third-covid-19-wave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/497769\/south-africa-officially-enters-third-covid-19-wave\/","title":{"rendered":"South Africa officially enters third Covid-19 wave"},"content":{"rendered":"

South Africa has officially entered into a third wave of Covid-19 infections after it reported 9,149 new cases on Thursday (10 June).<\/p>\n

The country’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the increase in cases has brought the national seven-day moving average incidence (5,959 cases) which exceeds the new wave threshold as defined by the government’s Ministerial Advisory Committee (MAC).<\/p>\n

The MAC defines the new wave seven-day moving average threshold as 30% of the peak incidence of the previous wave.<\/p>\n

The country has now reported a total of 1,722,08 cases, with the 9,149 new cases representing a 15.7% positivity rate based on tests competed.<\/p>\n

A further 100 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 57,410 to date. There was an increase of 844 admissions in the past 24 hours and 127 additional in-hospital deaths reported in the past 24 hours.<\/p>\n

The majority of new cases today are from the Gauteng province (61%), followed by the Western Cape (10%) province.<\/p>\n

Both the Free State and North West provinces accounted for 6%. The cumulative number of cases by province is shown below:<\/p>\n

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Hopes third wave is less severe\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Western Cape premier Alan Winde said that all indicators show that his province has already entered a third wave. This will sadly result in more hospitalisations and deaths in the Western Cape, he said in a digital press briefing on Thursday (10 June).<\/p>\n

“Our current projections are that this third wave will be less severe than the second wave, but we cannot be sure at this stage.<\/p>\n

“That is why it requires every single person to play their part and \u201cflatten the curve\u201d by making sure that you don\u2019t get infected by Covid-19 or spread Covid-19 during this time.<\/p>\n

“With vaccines starting to arrive in South Africa, we are a small step closer to beating Covid-19. That is why we must not give up now and why we must fight back by protecting ourselves and our loved ones.”<\/p>\n

South Africa moved to an adjusted level 2 lockdown at the end of May<\/a><\/strong> after several months of low transmission. The latest restrictions include:<\/p>\n