The number of Covid-19 deaths in SA climbed past 150, with the health ministry confirming five additional fatalities on Wednesday.

In a statement, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said that the death toll now stood at 152 following two additional deaths in both the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, and one death in Limpopo.

There were 7,808 confirmed cases countrywide, Mkhize said, an increase of 236 from Tuesday. The Western Cape remained the country's Covid-19 epicentre, both in terms of deaths and number of cases.

The number of recoveries was 3,153 - with the Western Cape and Gauteng both passing 1,000 recoveries.

The provincial breakdown of cases on Wednesday was provided as:

• Western Cape - 3,760;
• Gauteng - 1,720;
• KZN - 1,189;
• Eastern Cape - 849; 
• Free State - 130;
• Mpumalanga - 57;
• Limpopo - 40;
• North West - 37; and
• Northern Cape - 26.

The number of deaths and recoveries were recorded as:

• Western Cape - 73 deaths, 1,122 recoveries;
• KwaZulu-Natal - 38 deaths, 420 recoveries;
• Eastern Cape - 18 deaths, 388 recoveries;
• Gauteng - 15 deaths, 1,036 recoveries;
• Free State - 6 deaths, 102 recoveries;
• Limpopo - 3 deaths, 27 recoveries;
• Mpumalanga - 0 deaths, 22 recoveries;
• North West - 0 deaths, 20 recoveries; and
• Northern Cape - 0 deaths, 16 recoveries.

-TimesLIVE