SA records 8,800 new Covid-19 cases

SA recorded 8,881 Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the highest number of new daily infections since January 23 when more than 12,000 were recorded.

Figures released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) showed that Gauteng bore the brunt of the new infections, accounting for 58% of the cases recorded in the past day.

The new infections — at a positivity rate of 16.5%, based on 53,732 tests in the same period — means that there have now been 1,712,939 cases recorded across SA since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic last year.

The majority of new cases were recorded in Gauteng (58% — or 5,111 new cases), followed by the Western Cape (9% — or 783 cases).

“The increased number of tests and cases, and increased positivity, are all evidence of the predicted third surge in Covid-19 cases, and not artefacts of data loading or increased laboratory turnaround times,” the NICD said.

The institute also reported that there were 1,150 hospital admissions in the past 24 hours. Again, it was Gauteng that bore the brunt, with 587 new admissions.

“There were 135 additional in-hospital deaths reported in the past 24 hours,” the NICD said.

TimesLIVE