"Today we are saddened to report five more Covid-19 related deaths. This takes the total number of deaths to 18. We convey our condolences to the family of the deceased and also appreciate the health workers that treated the deceased patients," Mkhize said in a statement.

"The total number of Covid-19 tests conducted to date is 63,776. This is an increase of 5,678 from our last report."

Mkhize and his department update the report daily to send out updated figures.

Gauteng still has the highest number of confirmed infections with 782, while Western Cape has 495, KwaZulu-Natal has 354, Free State has 88, in Eastern Cape there are 45 confirmed cases, Limpopo and Mpumalanga each have 21 confirmed cases, 15 cases in the North West, 13 in the Northern Cape and 11 cases are unallocated.

According to the statement, nine of the confirmed deaths were from patients in KwaZulu-Natal, and three patients each from Gauteng, Western Cape, and Free State – they include six women and 12 men aged from 46 to 86.

Earlier on Wednesday, Netcare said respected epidemiologist Salim Abdul Karrim would help to lead a team of experts in investigating how St Augustine's hospital in Durban suffered 66 Covid-19 infections and four fatalities from the virus.

The department of health on Wednesday said the total number of infections that occurred at St Augustine's now stood at 66, of whom 48 were staff members. A health spokeswoman said the department had "some idea" of how the infection swept through the hospital, but would leave it to Netcare to pronounce on this.

Netcare Group CEO Richard Friedman in his statement simply said the infections began as a result of two patients who were admitted for other medical reasons and who initially had no symptoms, nor a history of travel, but later tested positive for the virus. He added a strong denial of suggestions that staff had been working without appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). 

Stressing that the novel coronavirus was "highly virulent and contagious", he said the company was confident that with the measures it had in place, it would contain the spread of the outbreak.

There are 1,982 people working on the hospital's premises and more than half of them have been tested for the virus.

"Thus far, a total of 504 people have tested negative and we are awaiting the results of a further 318 people. These results are reported on a daily basis to the head of the KwaZulu-Natal department of health’s (DOH) Covid-19 task team."

Netcare was contacting all patients who were treated at the hospital from March 1 to determine if they needed testing, he said.

Abdul Karrim is a special adviser to health minister Zweli Mkhize.

African News Agency (ANA)