SA stands on the verge of 1.7 million confirmed Covid-19 cases after 3,285 new infections were recorded in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Monday.

This means that there have now been 1,699,849 infections recorded to date — just 151 short of the 1.7 million mark. SA is now the 19th-ranked country in the world in terms of total confirmed infections. The US tops the list with more than 34.2 million, followed by India (just short of 29 million) and Brazil (just short of 19 million).

The health ministry said on Monday that the new cases in SA came from 23,199 tests, at a positivity rate of 14.16%. This is the second day in a row that the positivity rate — the number of new infections compared to the number of tests taken in the same period — has exceeded the 14% mark.

The ministry said there were 89 new Covid-19 related deaths in the past 24 hours, taking the total fatalities to 57,063.

The ministry said that, as of Sunday midnight, there had been 1.35 million vaccine doses administered.

TimesLIVE