South Africa has "vaccine security", a health department official said as the country announced the next stage of rollouts.

Dr Nicholas Crip, the deputy director-general in the health department, told TimesLive the country was in its "strongest position" yet, with 3.6m doses in stock - enough for 18 days - and more on the way.

The country, which is currently vaccinating the over-50s, is aiming to vaccinate 300,000 people a day by the end of August.

On Thursday, 191,000 jabs were done, with 5.6% of the population fully vaccinated.

Friday also saw the country announce it would open registration for those aged 35 to 49 on 15 July, beginning vaccinations in August.

The uptick in vaccinations comes as South Africa fights another deadly wave of coronavirus. Thursday saw almost 23,000 new cases recorded, and 460 deaths.

It was also announced on Friday that Johannesburg's mayor, Geoff Makhubo, had died after being diagnosed with Covid-19.