Almost 9 000 new Covid-19 cases recorded in South Africa
As South Africa battles the Covid-19 pandemic in lockdown level 4, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says 596 more people have died after they contracted the virus.
The number of lives lost since the outbreak has climbed to 67 676.
Nearly 9 000 infections, which represent a 22.2% positivity rate, have been picked up in the last 24-hour period.
"Today [Tuesday] the institute reports 8,929 new COVID-19 cases that have been identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,311,232," the NICD said.
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"The majority of new cases today are from Gauteng (37%), followed by the Western Cape (19%). KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 11%; the North West accounted for 8%; the Eastern Cape accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga and Limpopo each accounted for 6%; the Free State accounted for 4%; and the Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today’s new cases."
While the number of new cases is decreasing, hospitals in the country are currently treating more than 17 000 people.
In KwaZulu-Natal, almost 40 000 people were vaccinated against Covid-19 on Tuesday.
Nationally, more than 220 000 got the jab and to date the figure stands at 5.5 million
