South Africa has recorded 1 557 new COVID-19 cases, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 715 390.

In a statement on Tuesday, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said the increase represents a 6.0% 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. Today, the NDoH reports six deaths and of these, three occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 99 976 to date,” it said.

The majority of new cases are from Gauteng (38%), followed by the Western Cape (23%).

KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 22%; Eastern Cape 7%; North West 4%; Mpumalanga 3%; Free State 2%; and Limpopo and Northern Cape each accounted for 1%, respectively.

Source: South African Government News Agency