PUBLISHER: B4SA
This update – the 66th of its kind – contains a consolidated overview of the South African supply chain and the current state of international trade. Unfortunately, the bulk of the news at the end of the week revolved around the discovery of a new COVID-19 variant – Omicron. As expected, there was another alarming increase in the week’s newly reported COVID-19 infections, averaging about 1 040 per day and rapidly climbing (↑189% from last week’s average of 360). In total, the number of cases recorded in the country now stands at 2,95 million[1], with the death toll at 89 771 (up by 216). Globally, COVID-19 infections total more than 261 million, with the death toll passing 5,2 million this week. On the vaccination front, 7,85 billion vaccine doses have now been administered worldwide[2]. For South Africa, this figure stands at ~25,2 million, with a daily average of ~112 000 doses administered in the past week.
Read more:
[1] Johns Hopkins, Coronavirus Resource Centre. Coronavirus JJHU.
[2] Our World in Data, Coronavirus (COVID-19) Vaccinations. Our World in Data