The Department of Health has set a target to start vaccinating South Africans from ages 35 to 49 on July 15.

Acting Health Minister Mmamoloko Kubayi-Ngubane made the announcement during a media briefing on Friday.

“As we are opening the new age groups, we are receiving a number of requests with people are asking us to prioritize a certain sector.

“We will continue to approach the vaccine rollout according to age sectors, but we are reviewing this. We do believe that the age process continues to be the best. It will continue to allow us to reach more, South Africans,” said Kubayi-Ngubane.

More than four million people have received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine in the country and the number of daily vaccinations is increasing

She said the department is encouraged that the number of vaccinations per day has surpassed 199 000, however, it is expecting to surpass 250 000 vaccinations per day by the end of next week.

“This is one of the milestones we have reached, but we know that many people are saying it’s not enough in comparison with the rest of the population. And despite these trials, the Inter-Ministerial Committee of Vaccine still expects us to achieve more and addressed as yesterday on how to improve and ramp up the vaccine program,” she said.

On Thursday the country reported 22 910 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the cumulative total to over 2.1 million. This increase represents a 30.4% positivity rate.

A further 460 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 63 499 to date.