South Africa registers 3,707 new COVID-19 cases

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG

South Africa registered 3,707 new cases of the novel coronavirus in a 24-hour period bringing the total number to 607,045, its health minister announced late Saturday.

Zweli Mkhize said the country also recorded 144 COVID-19 deaths bringing fatalities to 12,987.

“The total number of tests conducted to date is 3.5 million with 30,560 new tests conducted since the last report [Friday]’’ said Mkhize.

He said at least 500,000 patients have recovered from the virus which translates to a recovery rate of 83%.

The tourism province of Western Cape, which includes Cape Town, has the highest COVID-19 deaths in the country with 3,718.

That is followed by Gauteng which includes the capital of Pretoria and Johannesburg with 3,227.

Eastern Cape lost 2,778 people and KwaZulu Natal has 1,936 deaths.

Remaining provinces each have less than 1,000 fatalities.

South Africa, with the highest number of infections on the continent, is ranked as the fifth most affected country globally.