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South Africa has recorded another 13,973 positive cases of Covid-19, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced Saturday night.
Since Friday there have also been 384 deaths attributed to the coronavirus. This brings the official death toll to 36,851.
Nearly 60,000 tests have been performed since Friday and the recovery rate is now 81.7%.
Most of the recorded deaths came from KwaZulu-Natal with 125 deaths. The Eastern Cape recorded 39 deaths, the Free State 12, Gauteng 68, Limpopo 26, Mpumalanga 7, the North Cape 12 and the Western Cape 95.
The new coronavirus has killed at least 2,009,991 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to a count from official sources compiled by AFP on Saturday.
The United States is the most affected country with 392,139 deaths, followed by Brazil with 208,246 deaths, India with 152,093 deaths, Mexico with 139,022 and Great Britain with 87,295.
# COVID-19 Statistics in SA as of January 16.
Use the COVID Alert SA app to protect yourself, your loved ones, and your community. Start using this privacy-preserving app today! Add your phone to the fight! Download the Covid Alert SA app now! https://t.co/8YKEqaiiRF pic.twitter.com/QAMKvzp06u
– Dr. Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) January 16, 2021
The latest global developments
– India begins massive vaccination campaign –
India, home to 1.3 billion people, launches one of the largest coronavirus vaccination campaigns in the world.
In a country whose number of virus cases is the second highest in the world, the government has approved two vaccines, although one has not yet completed clinical trials, with the goal of inoculating around 300 million people, equivalent to the population American, for July.
– Pfizer, BioNTech to limit vaccine delays –
Pfizer and BioNTech say they will limit delays in vaccine deliveries to just one week, following fears in Europe that injection shipments could slow for up to a month.
The US drugmaker and its German partner “have developed a plan that will allow the expansion of manufacturing capacities in Europe and deliver significantly more doses in the second quarter,” they say in a joint statement.
“As a result, our facilities in Puurs, Belgium, will experience a temporary reduction in the number of doses administered over the next week.”
– Biden’s vaccine blitz –
US President-elect Joe Biden says he will invest federal resources in creating “thousands” of vaccine sites, while also deploying mobile clinics and expanding the public health workforce to accelerate the launch of Covid- vaccines. 19.
Biden has said he wants 100 million Americans to receive injections during his first 100 days in office, a drastic increase from the current rate.
– Serbia receives a Chinese-made vaccine –
Serbia becomes one of the first European countries to receive a Chinese-made Covid-19 vaccine when a million doses of a puncture produced by Sinopharm arrives at Belgrade airport.
After Pfizer-BioNTech and Russia’s Sputnik V, Sinopharm’s is the third coronavirus vaccine used by the Balkan nation.
Once it gets final approval from the Serbian drug agency, vaccination could begin on Sunday or Monday, health officials say.
– WHO sounds alarmed by Brazil –
The Brazilian state of Amazonas could soon see the growing number of Covid-19 cases outweigh the “catastrophic” wave it suffered near the start of the pandemic last April, the World Health Organization warns.
WHO is alarmed by the situation in the northern state and its capital Manaus, where authorities are struggling to slow the spread of the virus as cases rise and hospitals run out of beds and oxygen.
– Colombia tightens restrictions – Nearly 30 million people in Colombia out of a total population of 50 million are confined to their homes this weekend or subject to a curfew as authorities try to stem a surge in new infections and hospitals in the main cities of the country struggle to treat people.
Colombia also extends the closure of its land and river borders, in force for almost a year, until March 1.
– The pandemic reduces global migration by 30 percent –
The coronavirus pandemic has slowed global migration by nearly 30 percent, with around two million fewer people than expected migrating between 2019 and 2020, according to a new UN report.
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