South Africa has nearly 170 000 active Covid-19 cases

South Africa has nearly 170 000 active Covid-19 cases

The number of active Covid-19 cases in South Africa has increased to 169 039.

COVID-19 test
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The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) reports that there were 12 771 new Covid-19 cases in the 24 hours leading up to Thursday evening.


The institute says the increase represents a 19.3% positivity rate.


Since the beginning of the pandemic, the country has recorded a total of 2,734,973 laboratory-confirmed cases.


KwaZulu-Natal continues to account for the majority of new infections.


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“The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (28%), followed by Western Cape (24%). Eastern Cape accounted for 13%; Gauteng Province accounted for 9%; Free State accounted for 8%; Northern Cape accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; North West accounted for 4%, and Limpopo Province accounted for 2% of today’s [Thursday's] new cases,” said the NICD in a statement.


A further 357 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 80 826.


There has been an increase of 495 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, with 13 646 people currently admitted in both public and private facilities.

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