SA recorded 21,584 new Covid-19 cases in the past 24 hours, the fourth highest single day increase in new infections since the outbreak of the coronavirus in March last year.

There were also 382 deaths related to Covid-19 reported in the past day, bringing the confirmed death toll to 61,029. 

Figures released by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) on Thursday showed Gauteng continued to be the country’s Covid-19 epicentre with 12,806 cases recorded in the province in 24 hours. There were 2,447 cases recorded in the Western Cape, and more than 1,000 cases recorded in KwaZulu-Natal, the North West and Limpopo.

The new infections came at a positivity rate of 28.4%.

Gauteng accounts for most new cases (59%), followed by the Western Cape (11%) and North West (7%).

The highest ever single day increase in Covid-19 cases was recorded on January 6 2021 when 21,832 cases were detected at the height of the second wave. The second-highest number of cases was on January 9 2021 (21,606 cases) and the third-highest on January 7 2021 (20,999 cases).

The previous high in the third wave were 19,506 cases on June 30 2021  and 18,762 on June 25 2021.

According to the NICD’s latest figures, there were 769 new hospital admissions in the past 24 hours, meaning there were 13,396 people being treated in the country’s hospitals.

TimesLIVE