Five deaths in SA as Covid-19 cases rise to 1,353

Five people have died and the number of Covid-19 cases in SA has risen to 1,353, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday.

Of the confirmed cases, Mkhize said, 633 were in Gauteng.

The number of confirmed cases was up from the 1,326 announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night. Ramaphosa announced at the time that SA had three deaths.

Of the two new reported deaths, one was in Gauteng and the other in KwaZulu-Natal, he said.

In total, Mkhize said, about 39,500 people had been tested. He was speaking at press conference at the Durban port on Tuesday.

He said there had been an interesting trend regarding the confirmed new infections.

"The rate of increase of the numbers is not as much as we have initially anticipated. The figures that we thought might be possible by April 2 could have been anywhere between 4,000 and 5,000, but we don't think we will get there."