Sign in
Research link-chevron Created with Sketch.
link-chevron Created with Sketch. Products and Services link-chevron Created with Sketch.
link-chevron Created with Sketch. Products and Services
Economics link-chevron Created with Sketch.
FX Report
The Loop
Inside China
Insights & Strategy
Equities link-chevron Created with Sketch.
Corporate Commissioned Research
Analysts
Analysts
Help and Support
Help and Support
Corporate and Investment Bank
Standard Bank Group
COVID-19 tracker 24 May 2021

Mass vaccination drives gaining traction

Shireen Darmalingam

Vaccine update:

  • More than 1.65 billion doses have been administered across 176 countries at a rate of 29.1 million doses a day.
  • The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention warned that under-vaccinated areas could become hot spots for the Indian variant of the virus.
  • US President Biden plans to send 20 million more vaccine doses abroad by the end of June. 
  • India’s Serum Institute has indicated that vaccine exports probably won't resume until the end of the year as it struggles to meet domestic needs. 
  • A recent study in Spain noted that combining the AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines is safe and generates high levels of immunity.
  • Research by DHL and McKinsey notes that 28.5 billion vaccines would likely be required to end the pandemic by 2023 and slow down virus mutations.
  • The research suggests that 7-9 billion doses need to be administered in each of the next 2 years to keep infection rates low. 
  • This is in addition to 10-15 billion vaccines that it believes could be distributed by the end of this year.
  • In South Africa, 647,983 vaccines have been administered to date.

Global cases update:

  • Cases have surpassed 167.53 million, while the death toll has surpassed 3.47 million; recoveries are at 148.54 million.
  • The US has 33.89 million cases, accounting for 20% of global cases; the US death toll is 604,087. 
  • The spread of infections in the US is continuing to slow.
  • India has 26.75 million cases and 303,751 deaths; Brazil has 16.08 million cases and 449,185 deaths.
  • India’s new cases continued to slow yesterday to the lowest in over a month. 
  • India’s capital, however, extended its lockdown until 31 May as it halted vaccinations of people aged 18 to 44 due to a shortage of vaccines.
  • Asia is stepping up the fight against a resurgence in cases: Japan is increasing vaccinations, and Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia added new lockdown rules. 
  • The Japanese government is considering extending the state of emergency in 9 prefectures to 20 June. 

Africa cases update:

  • Africa’s Covid-19 cases are at 4.80 million; fatalities are at 128,741.
  • Morocco has 517,023 reported cases, Nigeria 166,019, Ghana 93,620, Kenya 168,432.
  • According to a recent study, critically ill patients in Africa face a higher risk of death as health systems lack key resources such as hospital beds and oxygen.
  • The death rate in the month after admission to intensive care is around 48% on the continent, compared with 32% globally.

South Africa cases update:

  • SA currently has the 20th highest caseload, at 1.635 million; 2,894 new cases were reported yesterday.
  • Covid-19 deaths rose by 30 yesterday, to 55,802; 1.539 million people (or 94.1%) have recovered from the virus.
  • Provincial caseload: Gauteng 443,846 (accounting for 27,1% of the total); KwaZulu-Natal has 338,853 (20,7% of the total); Western Cape 291,457 (17,8% of the total).
  • Provincial deaths: Western Cape 11,751; Gauteng 11,032; KwaZulu-Natal 10,482.
  • 11.35 million tests have been conducted since 5 March 2020; 29,355 tests were conducted yesterday.

Read PDF