The third wave is now evident, warns Institute for Communicable Diseases
South Africa has recorded 8 881 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest number of positive cases since warnings that a third wave is on its way.
This is more than double the number of new cases reported on Tuesday.
In the latest report, The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) says the latest increase represents a 16.5% positivity testing rate.
Gauteng recorded 5 111 cases, while KwaZulu-Natal registered 537 cases.
READ: Eskom ups daytime load shedding to Stage 3 for Thursday
The Institute reports that the majority of new cases confirmed in the latest reports are from the Gauteng province (58%), followed by the Western Cape (9%) province.
“The increase number of tests and cases, and increased positivity, are all evidence of the predicted third surge in COVID-19 cases, and not artifacts of data loading or increased laboratory turn-around times,” says the NICD in a statement.
There was an increase of 1 150 admissions over the past 24 hours, the largest increase being in Gauteng province with 587 new admissions.
The death toll has also seen a sudden surge – with 135 more people who succumbed to the virus.
