South Africa administered 158,787 COVID-19 vaccines in the past 24 hours, bringing the total doses to 22,799,682. The Department of Health's latest data shows that of the jabs administered on Wednesday, 145,828 were given to adults, while 12,959 were received by children aged between 12 and 17.
In addition, the country is now home to 12,620,892 or 31.4% fully vaccinated adults out of the 40 million government is targeting. Meanwhile, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), recorded 344 new COVID-19 infections, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,922,735.
The majority of new cases were logged in Gauteng after 140 people were confirmed to have contracted the virus. In addition, 44 were reported in the Western Cape, 41 in KwaZulu-Natal, 35 in Free State, 28 in the North West and 22 in the Eastern Cape, while the rest of the provinces recorded less than 20 cases each.
"This increase represents a 1.3% positivity rate," the NICD explained, adding that the seven-day moving average daily number of cases have decreased.
Meanwhile, a further 23 patients succumbed to the respiratory disease, which means the death toll now stands at 89,220 to date. The NICD said the hospital admission has increased by 37. The information is based on the 18,606,274 tests, of which 27,392 were conducted since the last reporting cycle.
The institute is once again encouraging people to adhere to preventative measures to help limit the risk of contracting and spreading the virus.