Infections climb to 10,652, with 206 deaths

The death toll from Covid-19 in SA has climbed past the 200 mark, with 12 new deaths announced yesterday.

There were also 637 new confirmed Covid-19 cases in the country, with more than half in the Western Cape.

This brings the official total to 10,652 cases across SA and 206 deaths.

The North West province recorded its first coronavirus-related fatality yesterday.

Eight of the new fatalities were in the Western Cape, two in the Eastern Cape and one in KwaZulu-Natal.

The Western Cape has now recorded more than 100 deaths and the Eastern Cape has replaced Gauteng as the province with the third-highest toll.

KwaZulu-Natal has the second highest number of deaths.

Of the new confirmed infections, 453 were from the Western Cape.

The Eastern Cape recorded the second highest number of new infections, with 138 cases, followed by Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal, both with 19 new cases.

The North West had five new infections and the Northern Cape one.

No new cases were recorded in Limpopo and the Free State, which have relatively low infection numbers.

But just as the number of infections are on the rise, so are the number of people being screened and tested.

Between Sunday and yesterday, 14,731 new tests were done.

There were 4,357 recoveries recorded by yesterday, the health ministry said.

The provincial breakdown of cases on Sunday was provided as:

Western Cape — 5,621; Gauteng — 1,971; KwaZulu-Natal — 1,372; Eastern Cape — 1,356; Free State — 135; Mpumalanga — 63; Limpopo — 54; North West — 50; andNorthern Cape — 30.

The provincial breakdown of deaths was provided as:

Western Cape — 106; KwaZulu-Natal — 44; Eastern Cape — 24; Gauteng — 22; Free State — 6; Limpopo — 3; North West — 1; Mpumalanga — 0; and Northern Cape — 0.