Covid-19 update: SA records 10,346 new cases and 369 deaths

South Africa has recorded 2.708,951 positive cases of Covid-19, with 10, 346 cases recorded since the last report, the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), a division responsible for the surveillance of Covid-19 in the country, announced on Tuesday.

This, according to the institute, represents a 18.6% positivity rate.

“As per the National Department of Health, a further 369 Covid-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 79,953 to date.

The institute said that a total of 16.096,581 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors.

“The majority of new cases today are from KwaZulu-Natal (31%), followed by Western Cape and Eastern Cape which accounted for 20% each. Gauteng Province accounted for 9%; Free State accounted for 7%; Mpumalanga accounted for 5%; Northern Cape and North West accounted for 3% each; and Limpopo Province accounted for 2% of today’s new cases,” reported the institute.

There has been an increase of 493 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours.

Surge of Covid-19 infections in schools

According to a statement released on Sunday, the department of basic education recorded 526 new Covid-19 infections, which includes 54 educators, 439 learners and 33 support staff.

“There was a sharp increase in Covid-19 infections in schools compared to the previous three weeks,” the provincial department said.

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Northern Cape schools closed

In addition, there are currently eight schools that are closed to allow for contact tracing and disinfection of the school premises.

The department said five of these schools are scheduled to reopen this week.

“The pandemic is causing major disruptions in the education sector and the department is deeply concerned about the loss of learning and teaching time.”