South Africa reports 1,990 new COVID-19 cases

JOHANNESBURG

South Africa registered 1,990 new cases of the novel coronavirus in a 24-hour period, bringing the total to 642,431, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced Wednesday.

Mkhize said 82 more COVID-19 related deaths were also reported, taking the death toll to 15,168.

The minister said nearly 3.9 million people have been tested so far for the virus, with 21,736 tests conducted in the past 24 hours.

South Africa’s recovery rate now stands at 88.7%.

Despite having the highest number of COVID-19 infections on the continent and being the eighth most affected country globally, new figures show that cases of COVID-19 have started declining in the country as almost 570,000 people have recovered from the pandemic.

The number of new infections is also dropping compared to July, when 8,000-10,000 new cases would be reported daily.