The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) has reported 3,169 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours.

This brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3,634,811 since the outbreak of the pandemic in the country.

The new cases, the NICD said, came at an 8.8% positivity rate.

“Due to the ongoing audit exercise by the national department of health, there may be a backlog of Covid-19 mortality cases reported. Today, the department reports 203 deaths. Of these, 12 occurred in the past 24 to 48 hours. This brings the total fatalities to 96,705 to date,” the NICD said.

According to the NICD, 22-million tests have been conducted in the public and private sectors.

Most of the new cases are from Gauteng (32%), followed by the Western Cape (19%).

KwaZulu-Natal accounted for 14%, Mpumalanga 12% and the North West 7%.

“Free State and Limpopo each accounted for 6%, Eastern Cape for 4% and Northern Cape for 2% of today’s new cases.”

The institute also reported an increase of 86 people admitted to hospitals for Covid-19 treatment in the past 24 hours.

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