South Africa logged over 12 000 new COVID-19 cases for the first time this week, after recording fewer than 10 000 infections a day in the past few days.
According to the latest data, the total number of COVID-19 cases identified is 1 369 426 after 12 714 were confirmed to have contracted the virus on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, the active cases are now at 170 160, of which 53 442 are from KwaZulu-Natal, while 35 558 can be found in Gauteng and 32 366 in the Western Cape.
The North West currently has 13 868 patients who are infected, 9 438 in Free State, 8 314 in Mpumalanga, 7 954 in Limpopo, 4 968 in the Eastern Cape and 4 252 in the Northern Cape.
“Regrettably, we report a further 566 COVID-19 related deaths,” said Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize.
KwaZulu-Natal recorded the highest number of fatalities after 218 people succumbed to the respiratory disease in the last 24 hours.
The province is followed by the Eastern Cape and the Western Cape provinces, which had 104 deaths each.
Meanwhile, 80 occurred in Gauteng, 46 in Free State, eight in the Northern Cape and six in Mpumalanga.
This brings the total figure to 38 854 deaths, Mkhize added. “We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated these patients.”
The recovery rate is now sitting at 84.7% after 1 160 412 patients beat COVID-19.
“The cumulative total of tests conducted to date is 7 762 073 with 62 054 new tests conducted since the last report.”
The KwaZulu-Natal government said the province continues to rank number one in the country in terms of the number of active cases.
“The province is witnessing death on a catastrophic scale that has never been seen in living memory,” the province said.
The provincial government is once again asking please to “mask up” and social distance to limit the further transmissions.
According to the World Health Organisation, there are 94 963 847 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 2 050 857 deaths, to date.
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