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By IOL reporter 
6h ago
Cape Town – A total of 1,294 new Covid-19-related cases have been identified in South Africa.
As of Thursday, the cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in South Africa stands at 1,549,451, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement. Yesterday a total of 1,422 new cases of Covid-19 were reported, and of 756 and 548 the previous two days.
The death toll from Covid-19 has risen by 51: Limpopo 25, Gauteng 13, Western Cape 6, Eastern Cape 3, KwaZulu-Natal 3, and Mpumalanga 1. This brings the total number of deaths to 52,897.
Today’s accumulated recoveries stand at 1,474,826, representing a 95% recovery rate. The number of tests performed is 9,912,073, with 32,725 tests completed since the last report.
The number of health workers vaccinated according to the Sisonke Protocol is 269,102 as of 6.30 pm today.
Pfizer Inc and BioNTech said Thursday that their Covid-19 vaccine is about 91% effective in preventing the disease, citing data from updated trials that included participants inoculated for up to six months.
The injection was also 100% effective in preventing disease among trial participants in South Africa, where a new variant called B1351 predominates, although the number of those participants was relatively small: 800.
While the new 91.3% overall efficacy rate is less than the 95% originally reported in November 2020 for its 44,000-person trial, several variants have become more prevalent worldwide since then.
Russia has registered the world’s first vaccine against Covid-19 for animals, the country’s agricultural safety regulator Rosselkhoznadzor said after tests showed it generated antibodies against the virus in dogs, cats, foxes and minks.
Mass production of the vaccine, dubbed Carnivac-Cov, will begin in April.
The World Health Organization has expressed concern about the transmission of the virus between humans and animals. The regulator said the vaccine could protect vulnerable species and thwart viral mutations.
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