SOUTH Africa recorded 12 204 new Covid-19 cases and 312 new deaths over the past 24 hours, the Health Ministry confirmed on Saturday.
The country now has a cumulative total of 434 200 confirmed cases and 6 655 deaths since the start of the pandemic.
Among the latest deaths reported, 209 were from Gauteng, 37 from the Eastern Cape, 37 from KwaZulu-Natal and 18 from the Western Cape, while four were recorded in the Northern Cape.
To date, 263 054 people have recovered from the disease, which equates to a recovery rate of 60.6%, the department said.
More than 2.5 million tested
Countrywide 46 324 tests were conducted in the past 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests done over the past months to 2 730 812.
Covid-19 hits Cabinet ministers
Earlier on Saturday, the government announced that Trade and Industry Minister Ebrahim Patel was in self-isolation after testing positive for Covid-19.
Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe and Labour Minister Thulas Nxesi were both hospitalised this week after testing positive a week earlier.
The news comes as South Africans wait to hear from government what the next steps in fighting the spread of the coronavirus will be. A briefing by ministers serving on the country’s National Coronavirus Command Council, which was scheduled for Saturday, has been postponed with no new date provided as yet.
SA women cricketers test positive
Three members of South Africa’s women’s cricket team, who were due to join a training camp in preparation for a tour of England, have also tested positive for the virus.
Bleak picture worldwide
Almost 40 countries have reported record single-day increases in coronavirus infections over the past week, around double the number that did so the previous week, according to a Reuters tally showing a pick-up in the pandemic in every region of the world.
Over the past 24 hours the United States, which has over four million cases, reported 555 new deaths while India reported a massive 690 Covid-19 related deaths.
