Nearly 2,500 new Covid-19 cases and 174 deaths recorded in past 24 hours

South Africa recorded 2,420 new Covid-19 infections and 174 deaths in the past 24 hours, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Thursday night.

In a statement, Mkhize said there were now 633,015 confirmed cases of the respiratory illness in the country - and that 14,563 had succumbed across the country.

Of the deaths recorded in the past 24 hours, 39 were from KwaZulu-Natal, 50 from Gauteng, 24 from the Eastern Cape, eight from the Free State, 17 from the Western Cape, nine from the North West, and 27 from Mpumalanga.

This means that the Western Cape has the highest number of Covid-19 related deaths, with 3,946. It is followed by Gauteng with 3,730, the Eastern Cape with 2,956 and KwaZulu-Natal with 2,203. The Northern Cape has recorded 134 Covid-19 related deaths, the fewest of all provinces.

In terms of total confirmed cases, 211,678 have been recorded in Gauteng, 114,034 in KwaZulu-Natal and 106,582 in the Western Cape. The Northern Cape is at the bottom of the provincial scale, with just 11,020 cases to date.

It is a similar picture in terms of recoveries.

The highest number of recoveries has been recorded in Gauteng (184,538), followed by KZN (100,766), the Western Cape (98,047) and the Eastern Cape (82,233).

"Our recoveries now stand at 554,887 which translates to a recovery rate of 88%," said Mkhize.

The figures are based on 3,747,101 tests to date, of which 20,380 were in the past 24-hour cycle.

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