More than 10,000 South Africans have tested positive for Covid-19, an increase of 595 in the past 24 hours.

There were also eight more deaths recorded from Saturday, taking the total to 194.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize released the figures on Sunday night.

“As of today, the total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in South Africa is 10,015. We note with concern that the Western Cape and Eastern Cape combined comprises 84% of the total new cases,” Mkhize said in a statement.

Four of the eight deaths were in Gauteng, three in the Western Cape, and one from the Eastern Cape, and 4 from Gauteng.

On Saturday, Mkhize said SA had recorded 525 new cases of Covid-19, with another eight deaths — bringing to 9,420 the total number of cases and to 186 the total number of people who have died from the disease.

There were 4,173 recoveries as of Sunday.

Mkhize said that the new figures were based on 17,257 tests - a "record high for a 24-hour cycle of testing". In total, 341,336 tests have been conducted.

The provincial breakdown of cases on Sunday was provided as:

• Western Cape — 5,168;
• Gauteng — 1,952;
• KwaZulu-Natal — 1,353;
• Eastern Cape — 1,218; 
• Free State — 135;
• Mpumalanga — 61;
• Limpopo — 54;
• North West — 45; and
• Northern Cape — 29.

The provincial breakdown of deaths and recoveries was provided as:

• Western Cape — 98 deaths, 1,607 recoveries;
• KwaZulu-Natal — 43 deaths, 606 recoveries;
• Gauteng — 22 deaths, 1,247 recoveries;
• Eastern Cape — 22 deaths, 519 recoveries; 
• Free State — 6 deaths, 105 recoveries;
• Limpopo — 3 deaths, 28 recoveries;
• North West — 0 deaths, 23 recoveries
• Mpumalanga — 0 deaths, 22 recoveries; and
• Northern Cape — 0 deaths, 16 recoveries.