A total of 1 649 new COVID-19 cases have been recorded in South Africa in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 675 691.
The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the increase represents a 6.3% positivity rate.
“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the National Department of Health (NDoH), there may be a backlog of COVID-19 mortality cases reported. The NDoH reports 18 deaths, and of these, six occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99 430 to date.”
Meanwhile, 23 111 817 tests have been conducted in both the public and private sectors, with 12 548 694 tests done in private sector and 10 563 123 done in public sector.
Gauteng accounted for the majority of cases at 37% , followed by KwaZulu-Natal and the Western Cape, each accounting for 20% and 19%, respectively. Mpumalanga accounted for 7%; Free State, Eastern Cape and North West each accounted for 4%; Limpopo accounted for 3% and Northern Cape for 2% of the new cases.
In addition, there has been an increase of 49 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.
Source: South African Government News Agency