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By Anna Cox, Lou-Anne Daniels 
3h ago
Cape Town – The number of new Covid-19 cases reported in South Africa continues to decline steadily with 13,973 reported on Saturday, up from 14,880 new infections the day before.
The cumulative number of Covid-19 cases in the country now stands at 1,325,659 and the death toll from the coronavirus stands at 36,851, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize confirmed on Saturday.
In total, Gauteng has had the highest number of positive Covid-19 cases since the start of the outbreak with 358,462, representing 27 percent of the total.
At 20.9 percent, KwaZulu-Natal has the second highest number of total cases and the Western Cape third with 19.3 percent.
Deaths and recoveries
Of the 384 Covid-related deaths reported on Saturday, 125 were from KwaZulu-Natal, 95 from the Western Cape, 68 from Gauteng, 39 from the Eastern Cape, 26 from Limpopo, 12 from the Northern Cape and 7 from Mpumalanga.
In total, 1,083,978 people have recovered from the disease, representing a recovery rate of 81.7%.
Active cases
KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of active cases (62,478), while Gauteng has 47,598 and the Western Cape has 40,339.
The province with the lowest number of active Covid-19 cases is the Northern Cape with 4 333 cases.
Tests
To date, 7,558,774 tests have been carried out nationwide, with 59,994 new tests carried out in the last 24 hours.
Pharmacies ready to launch vaccines
On January 7, the national Department of Health outlined its strategic plan for the launch of the Covid-19 vaccine in South Africa, which will be distributed in a phased approach with 1.25 million frontline healthcare workers as the first. to receive the vaccine.
The second phase will include 16.6 million people consisting of essential workers and people at increased risk of complications from the Covid-19 infection. The third phase will include 22.5 million people over 18 years of age.
The hope is that by vaccinating just over 40 million people or 67% of the population, we will achieve herd immunity, which will end the pandemic.
A vaccination campaign of this proportion has never been attempted before and executing it by the end of 2021 will require the combined resources of the public and private health sectors.
There are almost 3,500 pharmacies, more than 12,000 GPs, and about 4,500 registered nurses in the private sector in South Africa. These health professionals will have a particularly important role to play in the provision and administration of vaccines to the citizens of South Africa at every phase of deployment.
The Independent Community Pharmacy Association (ICPA) is already in talks with the National Department of Health. “We are busy mapping all possible pharmacy coverage sites in South Africa to ensure accessible and equitable distribution of the vaccine to all eligible citizens,” said ICPA President Kgabo Komape.
“Our association has delivered a detailed plan of the role that our pharmacists and pharmacy nurses can provide to assist with Covid-19 vaccination, including distribution, storage, management, registration, reporting, and safe disposal of waste. Our members are willing and available to start getting vaccinated as soon as we receive the vaccinations. “
ICPA provides independent community pharmacies with a collective strength and coherent voice that is heard by the government, medical schemes, pharmaceutical providers, and the consumer.
MESS
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