SA recorded 339 deaths related to Covid-19 on Sunday night, bringing the country’s total death toll to 33,163

Health minister Zweli Mkhize said the country recorded 17,421 new Covid-19 cases, bringing the total to 1,231,597.

He said a cumulative total of 7,183,893 tests have been completed, with 63,046 tests conducted since the last report.

Of the 339 deaths related to Covid-19, the Eastern Cape recorded 77, Free State 19, Gauteng 28, KwaZulu-Natal 71, Limpopo 14, Mpumalanga 10, Northern Cape 7 and Western Cape 113.

Mkhize said total recoveries now stood at 966,368, representing a recovery rate of 78,4%.

Gauteng is seeing an increase in infections, with the Steve Biko Academic Hospital in Pretoria the latest to confirm it is under pressure from the number of patients seeking treatment.

The province is  likely to enter the peak of the second wave of infections in two weeks’ time, according to Prof Mosa Moshabela, dean and head of the School of Nursing and Public Health at the University of KwaZulu-Natal.

Moshabela told eNCA on Sunday: “My sense is that Gauteng is unlikely to peak in the next week. We can expect Gauteng to peak in the next two weeks, and only after that can we begin to see a clear downward trend.

“We know the peak of the second wave is going to be much higher than the first wave. At the moment it is showing signs it will be almost twice as high. My fear and concern is that it will get worse.”

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