SA COVID-19 cases breach 1 million

Just over 9 502 new infections have been confirmed in the last 24 hours, bringing the number of people diagnosed with the respiratory disease so far, to over 1 004 413. 

KwaZulu-Natal has the highest number of active cases with more than 46 000 infections. 

The Eastern Cape still holds the highest fatalities, followed by the Western Cape.  The Health Ministry's recorded another 214 Covid-19 related deaths. Over 26-THOUSAND people have lost their lives since March. 

Meanwhile, our recovery rate has dropped to 84%.

READ: Covid, pandemic and lockdown: how 2020 changed the world

The staggering figures come amid calls for tighter restrictions. Cabinet spokesperson, Phumla Williams has confirmed to us that the National Coronavirus Command Council met yesterday to discuss our response to the pandemic in the wake of a second wave and a new variant. 

The SA Medical Association says although it is worried about the high number of new Covid-19 cases, the figures were expected. 

The associations' Dr Angelique Coetzee explains the public don't listen and they don't adhere to the guidelines. 

"I'm not sure whether it is part of our past where we were told not to always listen to the government and to do their own thing." 

"I think that must be part of the reasons why it's so difficult to get people to stand together and to adhere to simple measurements. On the other hand, we got the problem of public facilities which are poorly run in a lot of the provinces," she adds.