SA passes UK's Covid-19 infections, with 10,000 new cases in 24 hours

South Africa recorded 10,496 new cases of Covid-19 in the past 24 hours, as the number of infections countrywide surges towards the 300,000 mark.

The country now has 298,292 positive cases, taking it above the UK to become the ninth worst-hit nation in terms of caseload.

Figures announced by health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Tuesday night reveal Gauteng recorded 3,357 new cases and continued to be the virus epicentre in SA. KZN also recorded more than 3,000 new cases.

Gauteng has 107,070 infections, followed by the Western Cape (80,199), the Eastern Cape (53,959) and KwaZulu-Natal (30,587).

Mkhize also revealed that 174 new deaths had been recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the national total to 4,346.

The Western Cape has the highest number of deaths (2,429), followed by the Eastern Cape and Gauteng (both 726) and KZN (313).

Mkhize also reported 146,279 recoveries to date.

SA's figures come from a total of 2,232,738 tests, of which 38,114 were done in the past 24-hour cycle.

According to statistics-tracking website Worldometer, by the time Mkhize released the figures, SA is set to become just the ninth country to record more than 300,000 cases of Covid-19. The UK has recorded 290,133.

Within the next few days, given the massive spike in cases in recent days, SA is likely to pass Spain (303,033) and then Mexico (304,435).

As an indication of SA's relatively low mortality rate, it ranks 23rd in the world in terms of total deaths.

The UK has recorded 44,830 deaths to date, at a rate of 660 deaths per 1 million people. Comparatively, SA's 4,346 deaths is at a rate of about 70 per million.