Covid-19 update: SA continues upward trajectory with 12,045 new cases

On Friday, South Africa continued on an upward trajectory of infections, recording 12,045 new Covid-19 cases in a 24-hour cycle.

This was announced by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division responsible for the surveillance of Covid-19 in the country.

This takes the cumulative number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2,747,018, representing a 19.0% positivity rate.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 361 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 81,187 to date,” the institute said in a statement.

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It said a total of 16,292,228 tests had been conducted in both the public and private sectors.

“The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (32%), followed by Western Cape (21%). Eastern Cape accounted for 15%; Gauteng Province accounted for 9%; Free State accounted for 7%; Northern Cape and Mpumalanga accounted for 5% each; North West accounted for 4%; and Limpopo Province accounted for 2% of today’s new cases.”

There was an increase of 548 hospital admissions.