WATCH LIVE | Mkhize briefs media as he continues to conduct Covid-19 hotspot site visits

Health minister Zweli Mkhize is expected to brief the media as he continues to conduct site visits at Covid-19 hotspot areas across SA. 

The Western Cape was on top of Mkhize's list as he visited Sonstraal field hospital.

The province accounts for 2/3's of Covid-19 infections in the country. 

The health ministry announced on Monday that there were 34,357 cases of the respiratory illness.

There were also an additional 22 deaths recorded in the latest 24-hour cycle - all in the Western Cape.

This means that there are now 705 fatalities from Covid-19 in SA - of them, 525 have been in the Western Cape.

In total, 17,291 recoveries have been recorded.

The figures were based on a total of 742,742 tests, of which 17,617 tests have been conducted in the latest 24-hour reporting period.

The provincial breakdown of cases, deaths and recoveries was on Monday provided as:

• Western Cape — 22,567 cases, 525 deaths, 11,431 recoveries;
• Eastern Cape — 4,111 cases, 82 deaths, 2,123 recoveries;
• Gauteng — 4,231 cases, 33 deaths, 2,060 recoveries; 
• KwaZulu-Natal — 2,565 cases, 52 deaths, 1,248 recoveries;
• Free State — 285 cases, 8 deaths, 123 recoveries;
• Limpopo — 192 cases, 3 deaths, 144 recoveries;
• North West — 187 cases, 1 death, 45 recoveries;
• Mpumalanga — 131 cases, 0 deaths, 86 recoveries;
• Northern Cape — 82 cases, 1 death, 31 recoveries; and
• Unallocated — 6 cases.