The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) recorded 9,149 new cases in a 24 hour cycle, bringing the total number of confirmed cases in the South Africa to over 1,722,086.

According to City Press, the National Institute of Communicable Diseases announced on Thursday that South Africa had “technically entered the third wave today as the national seven-day moving average incidence (5 959) now exceeds the new wave threshold as defined by the ministerial advisory committee”.

This marked the first time since mid-January that the country had recorded more than 9 000 infections, City Press adds.

Although Gauteng is the biggest contributor of infections, accounting for 5 597 of new daily cases, the Western Cape, who has been the most recent province to enter the COVID-19 third wave, believes that residents can still work together to flatten the curve, EWN reports.

The Free State health department is equally concerned about the staggering uptake of vaccines among elderly people in the province while Gauteng health department’s spokesperson, Kwara Kekana addressed the concern in the province by saying:

“New cases continue to increase across the province. The department urges all people in the province to do their part to protect themselves and help contain the transmission of the virus. The province continues to monitor adherence to COVID-19 measures in communities, schools and other public spaces. The province is also intensifying its contact tracing efforts, especially the hot spot areas.”

Meanwhile, the Head of the Western Cape health department, Keith Cloete, said that the cases have rapidly increased over the last 10 days. This increase could be the result of cluster events, such as funerals, weddings and sports events, News24 reports.

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