Johannesburg – The department of health said that 9 010 new Covid-19 cases were recorded in the past 24 hours.
The cumulative amount of cases in the country now stands at 1 346 936.
The department of health further said, “Regrettably, we report a further 344 COVID-19 related deaths bringing total to 37 449 deaths. Our recoveries now stand at 1 117 452 , representing a recovery rate of 83%.”
#COVID19 Statistics in SA as at 18 January .
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— Department of Health (@HealthZA) January 18, 2021
In an exclusive interview held with Sunday World, President Cyril Ramaphosa said that rich countries are gobbling available vaccines in a move that could see poor and middle-income countries like South Africa failing to vaccinate millions of their vulnerable people, including frontline healthcare workers and the elderly.
President Cyril Ramaphosa has raised concerns that rich countries have weakened Covax, a global alliance of mostly low and middle-income countries that has pooled resources together to buy vaccines at a cheaper price and ensure their equitable distribution to save lives.
“We have been concerned about the vaccine issue because there seems to be sort of a nationalism around vaccines. We wanted to see vaccines as a common good, available on an equitable basis to various countries in the world,” he said.
“Our concern was obviously based on the fact that your higher-income countries were just buying out everyone. That in itself weakens Covax because Covax is a process in which various countries come together and get a vaccine cheaply on a combined basis. Those countries [rich countries] went and bought.”
The number of #COVID19 cases identified on SA is 1 346 936 with a total of 9 010 new cases identified. Regrettably, we report a further 344 COVID-19 related deaths bringing total to 37 449 deaths. Our recoveries now stand at 1 117 452 , representing a recovery rate of 83% pic.twitter.com/qDIxoxijw1
— Department of Health (@HealthZA) January 18, 2021
Read more: Poorer countries could miss out as US and Europe hog Covid vaccine
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