The daily increase in infections since Wednesday was 1,134.

The Western Cape accounted for 12,153 of the infections, which translates into 63.5 percent of the cases in the country. Of the national number of fatalities, 235 occurred in the province, which has for some weeks been regarded of the epicentre of the coronavirus epidemic in South Africa.

Gauteng had 2,453 cases followed by the Eastern Cape with 2,324 infections.

There have been 50 fatalities in the Eastern Cape, 46 in KwaZulu-Natal and 27 in Gauteng. All other provinces have recorded fewer than 10 fatalities, with none so far in Mpumalanga.

The health ministry said it had to date conducted 525,433 tests for the novel coronavirus, of which 18,572 were carried out in the past day.

Western Cape premier Alan Winde has said that the province, and the Cape Town metropolitan area in particular, was nearing an infection peak, a few weeks ahead of the rest of the country.  He said he expected the infection rate to continue to climb, resulting in more hospital admissions and fatalities.

Health experts have said there is no clear answer as to why the transmission rate in the region is far outstripping that seen in the rest of the country.

African News Agency (ANA)