The elderly and young children are testing positive for the coronavirus as SA's infection rate climbed to 274 cases on Sunday.

This means there has been an increase of 34 from Saturday’s announcement, said health minister Zweli Mkhize.

Gauteng is the worst affected province with 132 positive tests, followed by the Western Cape with 88.

The Eastern Cape has 2, Free State 9, KwaZulu-Natal 36, Limpopo 1, and Mpumalanga 6.

In the 1-10 year age bracket, there are nine cases, while there are 12 cases for people over the age of 71, and 20 people in the 61-70 age bracket.

The biggest category of positive tests is in the 31-40 age bracket with 69 cases, followed by the 51-60 age bracket, with 63 cases.

Of the total confirmed cases across the country so far, most - at 170 - are male, the ministry said.

The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) said of the 274 cases, 208 (76%) have a history of travel from an area where Covid-19 is circulating. The majority of those without international travel history have had recent contact with persons who have travelled internationally.

While the Eastern Cape province has recorded its second case - a 22-year-old male who travelled to Austria, Germany and the United Kingdom - the majority of the new cases were reported in the Western Cape, at 14. 

The Western Cape's new cases are:

• A 44-year-old female who travelled to the United Kingdom, Austria and Dubai
• 33-year-old female with no international travel history
• 24-year-old female with no international travel history
• 53-year-old female who travelled to the United Kingdom
• A 57-year-old male who travelled to the United Kingdom
• 30-year-old male who travelled to Italy and Switzerland
• 28-year-old female who travelled to Italy and Switzerland
• 62-year-old male who travelled to Switzerland
• 30-year-old male with no international travel history
• 71-year-old male who travelled to Portugal
• 47-year-old female with no international travel history
• 57-year-old male with no international travel history
• 54-year-old male who travelled to Italy; and
• 49-year-old female who travelled to Italy

Gauteng's cases include a 58-year-old male who travelled to Pakistan and Dubai, a 33-year-old woman who travelled to the UK, a 22-year-old male who travelled to Mauritius and three with no international travel history.

KwaZulu-Natal recorded cases of travellers to Europe and Dubai.

Mpumalanga has a case of a 25-year-old male who travelled to France, Germany and the Netherlands.

Contact tracing of all cases that the patients may have come into contact with is under way, the NICD said. - TimesLive