In the provinces, the Eastern Cape has 13,506 confirmed cases, the third-highest in the country behind Gauteng which has 17,261 and Western Cape, with 48,706 cases, more than half the total number of cases in the country. KwaZulu-Natal has 4,548 confirmed Covid-19 cases, North West has 1,758 cases, Free State has 658 cases, Mpumalanga 505, Limpopo 503 and Northern Cape has 218 cases.

A total of 1,260,434 tests have been completed with 32,336 new tests reported - 617,294 (49 percent) are tests done by the private sector tests; while the public sector has done 643,140 (51 percent) tests.

"Regrettably, we report a further 94 Covid-19 related deaths - 27 from Gauteng, seven from KwaZulu-Natal, and 60 from the Western Cape. This brings the total deaths to 1,831. 

"We wish to express our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the health care workers who treated the deceased," Mkhize said. 

With a mortality rate of 2.1 percent, the recovery rate is 54.5 percent (or 47,825).

The gender distribution shows more men than women succumb to the disease. The age distribution shows that the highest numbers for fatalities are those between 60 and 69 years (487 or 26.6 percent), followed by 50 to 59-year-olds (446 or 24.3 percent), then  70 to 79 years (320 or 17.5 percent) and lastly, 40- to 49-year-old people (231 or 12.6 percent)

African News Agency (ANA)