Covid-19 update: SA reports 1,691 new cases and 87 deaths

South Africa has recorded a total of 3.560,921 positive cases of Covid-19, with 1,691 new cases identified in the past 24 hours, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division of the National Health Laboratory Service, announced on Thursday evening.

This increase represents a 9.3% positivity rate. 

The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng Province (27%), followed by Western Cape (19%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 17%; Mpumalanga accounted for 11%; Limpopo and North West each accounted for 7% respectively; Free State accounted for 6%; Eastern Cape accounted for 5%; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the NDoH reports 87 deaths and of these, 25 occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 93,451 to date,” said the NICD in a statement.

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21.815,463 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

There has been an increase of 114 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

– More than 5.5  million dead –

The coronavirus has killed at least 5.537,051 people since the outbreak emerged in China in December 2019, according to an AFP tally compiled from official sources on Monday.

The United States has recorded the most Covid deaths with 850,605, followed by Brazil with 621,045 India on 486,451 and Russia 321,990.

Taking into account excess mortality linked to Covid-19, the WHO estimates the overall death toll could be two to three times higher.

The Covid-19 crisis is continuing to hit jobs hard around the world, the UN’s International Labour Organization says in a report, warning it could take years for employment levels to reach pre-pandemic levels.

Additional reporting by AFP