SA records 680 Covid-19 deaths in 24 hours, and 6,000 new cases

SA recorded 680 new Covid-19 deaths in the past 24 hours, the fifth-highest daily number of fatalities linked to the coronavirus.

The new deaths means that 41,797 have now been recorded, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday.

This means that all five of the country’s most deadly Covid-19 days have come in the past two weeks.

Of the new deaths, 306 were in KwaZulu-Natal, 141 were in Gauteng, 95 were in the Western Cape, 86 were in the Eastern Cape, 28 were in the Free State, 18 were in Mpumalanga, four were in Limpopo and two were in the Northern Cape.

Mkhize also reported that 6,041 new Covid-19 infections had been recorded in the past 24 hours, taking the cumulative national total to 1,423,578 cases.

The new infections come from 39,529 tests, at a positivity rate of 15.28%.

To date, 1,254,674 recoveries have been recorded, at a recovery rate of 88%.

TimesLIVE