Health Minister concerned over 3 000 new Covid-19 cases

In his daily report, Mkhize said South Africa saw 3 105 new daily cases reported in the 24 hours up to Friday evening.

This is the first time the number of daily infections have breached the 3 000 mark since South Africa relaxed the coronavirus lockdown to Level 1 in September.

More than half of the new cases were detected in the Eastern Cape.

This gives a cumulative total of Covid-19 cases in South Africa to 762 763.

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"We are also concerned that the positivity is at 12%, which is higher than what is ideal, i.e. 10% or less," said Mkhize.

The Health Minister said the highest number of latest related deaths also come from the Eastern Cape, where 67 coronavirus fatalities have been reported. 

"Regrettably, 88 more COVID-19 related deaths have been reported: Eastern Cape 67, Free State 15, Gauteng 2, KwaZulu-Natal 1 and Western Cape 3. 

"This brings the total to 20 759 deaths. We have noted that the number of new deaths being reported daily in the Eastern Cape is rising as well."

South Africa’s Covid-19 recovery rate is at 92.7 %.