South Africa hits vaccine milestone as 100,000 shots have now been administered

South Africa's 100,000th Covid-19 vaccine has been administered, 17 days after the first shot was given out on February 17.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Friday — on the one-year anniversary of the first Covid-19 case being recorded in South Africa — that 100,180 doses had been administered as part of the country's vaccine rollout.

Mkhize said he was “very encouraged” at the milestone being reached.

Also on Friday, Mkhize said that there were now 1,518,979 confirmed coronavirus cases recorded across South Africa — an increase of 1,313 in the past 24 hours. The new infections come from 29,024 tests, at a positivity rate of 4.52%.

The minister also reported that 104 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported in the past 24 hours. Of these, 29 were in the Free State, 17 were in the Western Cape, 16 in Gauteng, 15 in the Northern Cape, 12 in Limpopo, eight in KwaZulu-Natal, four in the Eastern Cape and three in East London. There were no deaths recorded in the North West in the past 24 hours.

“This brings the total to 50,566 deaths. We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health-care workers who treated the deceased patients,” Mkhize said.

To date, 1,437,050 recoveries have been recorded at a recovery rate of 94.6%.

TimesLIVE