Mkhize said there were 637 new infections recorded, pushing the overall figure above the 10,000 mark.

The 12 new Covid-19 fatalities, included the first in North West province.

The Western Cape accounts for more than half of the total number of infections nationwide, with 5,621 cases. Gauteng has 1,971 infections and KwaZulu-Natal 1,372.

There are 1,356 cases in the Eastern Cape. Mkize on Monday visited the province, and said there was a clear link in terms of transmissions between the province and the neighbouring Western Cape.

He said it was to be expected, given the routine travel of goods and people between the two provinces and a measure of coordination was required to deal with transmission across their shared provincial border.

President Cyril Ramaphosa is due to visit both provinces this week.

South Africa has the highest number of confirmed cases in Africa, followed by Egypt, which has 9,746, an increase of 346 within a 24-hour period, but with more than double the number of deaths (533) compared to South Africa's 206, and with half the number of recoveries (2,172), according to the Worldometer. South Africa has 4,357.

In Egypt, testing, which is considered a crucial means of controlling the spread of the disease, is at 90,000 compared with 356,067 in South Africa.

African News Agency