The ministry said another 19 people have died of complications related to the virus.

"Regrettably, we report a further 19 Covid-19 related deaths - this brings the total national deaths to 238."

The Western Cape accounted for 56.8% of the confirmed infections, with 7,235. 

There were 2,135 cases in Gauteng, 1,569 cases in the Eastern Cape and 1,444 in KwaZulu-Natal, the ministry said.

The ministry said health authorities had tested 403, 018 people for the novel coronavirus to date and 16,666 of these test were performed within the last 24 hour-period.

Countrywide, 5,676 people have recovered after contracting the virus.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday said the government was mulling easing lockdown restrictions to level 3 across the country, with the exception of transmission hotspots.

The Western Cape is challenging this view, with premier Alan Winde on Thursday morning calling for confinement measures in the province to be scaled back to level 3 even before the end of the month.

Winde said the provincial health authorities had managed to pinpoint areas with high rates of infection and transmission to exact localities, and therefore there was no need to maintain economically punishing restriction levels in the region.

The Democratic Alliance, which governs the Western Cape, on Thursday filed urgent court papers challenging key regulations pertaining to the nationwide curfew, and restrictions on e-commerce and exercise.

National government a short while later published new regulations lifting restrictions on e-commerce.

African News Agency