SA records more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases for second straight day

SA on Thursday recorded more than 20,000 new Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour period for the second day in a row.

In a statement on Thursday night, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed that 20,999 new infections had been recorded in the past 24 hours. This took the national tally of confirmed cases to 1,170,590.

The new cases came from 69,271 tests, at a positivity rate of 30.3%.

Mkhize also reported that 441 new deaths were recorded in the past day, taking the national death toll to 31,809.

Of these, 132 were in KwaZulu-Natal, 119 in the Western Cape, 75 in Gauteng, 70 in the Eastern Cape, 23 in the Free State, 11 in Limpopo, seven in Mpumalanga and four in the Northern Cape.

KZN remains the virus epicentre, with 80,656 of the country's 200,565 active cases. With 39,400 active cases, Gauteng is soon set to overtake the Western Cape (41,424 active cases) into second spot.

To date, 938,216 recoveries have been recorded, at a recovery rate of 80.1%.

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