Gauteng, with 81,546 confirmed Covid-19 cases (34.2 percent) reporting 6,531 new infections in a day, has taken the lead from Western Cape with 74,815 (31.4 percent) reporting 1,523 new cases since Wednesday.

Eastern Cape has confirmed it has 44,432 (or 18.6 percent) of the total cases, 2,075 of them new cases, while KwaZulu-Natal has 19,630 cases, up by 1,668.

The tally for North West is 7,870 confirmed cases, Free State (3,724), Mpumalanga ( 2,902), Limpopo has 2,381 cases and Northern Cape, 1,039.

Testing data shows that 56,170 new tests were completed since the last report. "We have thus reached a milestone of having completed over two million tests for Coronavirus," Mkhize said.

"I would like to pay special tribute to the men and women in the laboratory services who have made this possible - this is an enormous achievement that we can all be proud of as South Africans.

"The total number of tests conducted to date is 2,000,569," the minister said. 

The private sector tested 54 percent of the total (1,087,573) and the public sector, 912,996 (or 46 percent).

"Regrettably, we report a further 129 Covid-19 related deaths - 1 from Northern Cape, 26 from KwaZulu-Natal, 28 from Eastern Cape, 37 from Gauteng and 37 from Western Cape. 

"We also indicate that the current total deaths in Limpopo is 33 (not 44 as reported yesterday). This was a data interpretation error, which has been corrected. Reallocation has since been done and we have confirmed the current total with the province. 

"Therefore, the total number of Covid-19 related deaths today is 3,720," Mkhize said. 

"We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated the deceased 

"The number of recoveries is 113,061, which translates to a recovery rate of 47,4 percent. 

The Western Cape still reports by far the highest number of deaths to date with 2,229 and 55,534 recoveries; Eastern Cape has the second highest death rate with 610 and 24,304 recoveries; Gauteng has recorded 515 deaths, but its recovery rate is only 23,804; and KwaZulu-Natal has recorded 249 deaths with just 5,505 recoveries.

African News Agency