Johannesburg - Almost six out of every 10 new infections recorded on Saturday were from the Western Cape province, data released by Health Minister Zweli Mkhize shows.
In terms of deaths, there were 8 new deaths, with all but one death, coming from the Western Cape province. The one other death came from the KwaZulu-Natal province.
This means that just under 60% of South Africa’s 525 new infections came from the province which also has the most cases and deaths in the country.
The majority of the other cases came from the Eastern Cape, with 89, Gauteng, 60, and KZN, 54.
Officials from the national health department, along with Mkhize, were in the Western Cape on Saturday - the province which has the most cases and deaths. The province has 95 deaths and 4809 infections.
Next week, President Cyril Ramaphosa and Mkhize will visit both provinces as Covid-19 continues to spread rapidly, while deaths are also rising sharply.
In numbers, the Western Cape had 312 out of the 525 new infections and seven of the eight new Covid-19 deaths were also from the province.
LATEST BREAKDOWN
New Deaths
New Cases
Total Cases
Total Deaths
South Africa
8
525
9420
186
Western Cape
7
312
4809
95
Gauteng
0
60
1910
18
KZN
1
54
1308
43
Eastern Cape
3
89
1078
18
Free State
0
1
134
6
Mpumalanga
0
1
61
0
Limpopo
0
7
51
3
N West
0
0
41
0
N Cape
0
1
28
0
South Africa had now conducted over 324 000 tests, of which, more than 16 000 were conducted in the past 24 hours.
As of Friday, Mkhize said 8.2 million people had been screened.
Mkhize said in terms of Covid-19 patients who were in hospital, there were a total of 435.
-
45 patients in high care
-
77 in ICU
-
40 on ventilators