SA recorded more than 11,000 Covid-19 cases for the second consecutive day on Friday, as the country stood on the verge of a half million infections.

Barring the lowest number of new cases in well over a month, SA will pass the 500,000 case mark on Saturday, becoming only the fourth nation to do so.

SA has recorded 493,183 cases to date — with only the US (4,664,624 cases), Brazil (2,625,612), India (1,694,705) and Russia (839,981) having recorded more infections.

But despite this, the recorded deaths are significantly lower than many other countries with far fewer cases. SA has the 17th-highest number of deaths, according to statistics tracking company Worldometers.info.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize confirmed on Friday that 193 Covid-19 related deaths had been recorded in the past 24 hours.

“Regrettably, we report 193 new Covid-19 related deaths: eight from the Eastern Cape, 103 from Gauteng, 36 from KwaZulu-Natal, 33 from the Western Cape and 13 from Mpumalanga.

“This brings the cumulative number of deaths to 8,005,” he said.

Figures provided by the health department show that Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal again led the way in terms of new Covid-19 infections in the past 24 hours. Gauteng, the country's epicentre, recorded 3,716 new cases and KwaZulu-Natal recorded 2,779 new cases.

With the Eastern Cape recording 883 new cases, and given the current growth rates, it is increasingly likely that KwaZulu-Natal will become the third hardest-hit province by Saturday.

While it is still the second hardest-hit province, the Western Cape recorded just 784 new cases in the past 24 hours.

The provincial breakdown of cases as of Friday night were:

• Gauteng — 175,272;
• Western Cape — 95,223;
• Eastern Cape — 77,938
• KwaZulu-Natal — 76706;
• Free State — 21,262;
• North West — 19,325;
• Mpumalanga — 14,101;
• Limpopo — 8,565; and
• Northern Cape — 4.741.

Fifty cases have been unallocated.

Mkhize also reported that 326,171 recoveries had been recorded to date — a recovery rate of 66%.

The figures are based on 2,959,535 tests in total, of which 41,486 were in the past 24-hour cycle.

TimesLIVE