SA is likely to hit one million confirmed Covid-19 cases this weekend, after more than 14,000 new cases were recorded in a 24-hour period for the third straight day.

Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Christmas Day that 14,796 new infections had been recorded, taking the total number of confirmed cases to 983,359.

The new cases — a new record for single-day increases in confirmed infections — came from 52,223 tests, at a positivity rate of 28.33%.

Mkhize also revealed that KwaZulu-Natal had become the new epicentre for Covid-19 in SA, taking over from the Western Cape in terms of active cases. Currently, KwaZulu-Natal has 40,197 active cases, compared to 38,670 in the Western Cape. Gauteng has 22,151 and the Eastern Cape 11,079. No other provinces have more than 5,000 active cases.

There were also 293 Covid-19 related deaths in the 24-hour period. Of the new deaths, 115 were in the Eastern Cape, 107 in the Western Cape, 27 in KwaZulu-Natal, 23 in Gauteng, 10 in Limpopo, six in the Free State and five in Mpumalanga.

TimesLIVE