SA has over 6,000 new Covid-19 cases, half coming from Gauteng

South Africa has recorded 6,132 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Monday - with about half of those cases coming from Gauteng.

The Western Cape, which remains the country's epicentre, recorded less than 1,000 new cases in the past 24 hours, taking the national fatalities to 2,529.

The ministry said there were also 73 deaths reported in the past 24 hours.

According to the ministry, there are now 144,264 cases of the virus in SA. The Western Cape accounts for 61,375 of those cases (up from 60,445 on Monday), Gauteng 39,841 (up from 36,895), and the Eastern Cape 26,195 (up from 25,099).

The figures also revealed that Limpopo became the latest province to pass the 1,000-case mark, meaning that the Northern Cape is the only province not to have reached this grim milestone.

Limpopo had 1,011 cases by Monday, and the Northern Cape 404.

According to the ministry, of the 73 new deaths, 43 were from the Western Cape, 10 from the Eastern Cape, six from KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng, five from Limpopo, and two from the North West.

The mortality rate is currently at 1.8%, with 70,614 recoveries reported to date - a recovery rate of 48.9%.

The figures are based on 1,596,995 total tests, of which 29,911 were in the most recent 24-hour reporting cycle.