This takes South Africa’s Covid-19 infections to over 1.3 million infections since March, with the death toll now 39 501 virus-related deaths.

The number of recoveries in the country stands at over 1.1 million recoveries, which means there is a recovery rate of about 85.7% currently.

Mkhize said they had now tested over 7.8 million people in the private and public sector, with over 58 000 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

The Eastern Cape province has the most deaths in the country, with 9716, followed by the Western Cape with 9454, Gauteng with 7137, and KZN with 6890.

Of the latest 647 deaths, Mkhize said the majority of the deceased came from KZN, Eastern Cape and Western Cape. There were deaths recorded in all nine provinces, with three provinces recording triple-digit deaths, double-digit deaths in five provinces and only the Northern Cape had single-digit deaths, with eight deaths recorded.

KZN - 154 deaths

Eastern Cape - 139

Western Cape - 137

Gauteng - 93

North West - 55

Limpopo - 27

Free State - 17

Mpumalanga - 17

Northern Cape - 8

“We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated these patients,” said Mkhize.

IOL