Covid-19 update: SA records 1,497 new cases and 26 deaths

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on Saturday reported that 1,497 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in South Africa.

This brings the total number of cases in the country to 3,712,263.

The NICD also said there were 26 more Covid-related deaths in the country, two of which occurred over the past 24-48 hours. The total number of deaths recorded in South Africa now stands at 99,965.

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The new cases on Saturday represents a 5.7% positivity rate.

Most of the new Covid cases recorded on Saturday were in Gauteng (39%), which was closely followed by the Western Cape (27%).

KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 20%; Eastern Cape, Free State and North West each accounted for 3%; Mpumalanga accounted for 2%; and Limpopo and Northern Cape each accounted for 1%.

New cases per province:

• Gauteng: 590
• Western Cape: 410
• KwaZulu-Natal: 294
• Eastern Cape: 49
• Free State: 42
• Northern Cape: 19
• Mpumalanga: 28
• North West: 43
• Limpopo: 22

There has been an increase of 15 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. 

There have been 23,727,513 tests conducted in both public and private sectors.

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