South Africa reports more than 9,000 new COVID-19 cases

By Hassan Isilow

JOHANNESBURG (AA) - South Africa reported its biggest increase in coronavirus infections Friday, with 9,063 confirmed new cases to bring the total to 117,124.

“Regrettably, we report a further 108 COVID-19 related deaths. This brings the total deaths to 2,952,” according to Health Minister Zweli Mkhize.

Mkhize said three of the deaths are from the Northern Cape Province, eight from Eastern Cape, 29 in North West, 10 in KwaZulu-Natal and 58 from Western Cape Province.

Western Cape, home to the tourism hub of Cape Town, recorded the highest number of deaths at 1,983, since the start of the virus three months ago.

The Eastern Cape is the second most affected province with 459 and Gauteng province, which includes Johannesburg and Pretoria, has 282 deaths.

At least 86,298 patients have recovered from the virus for a recovery rate of 48.7%, with more than 1.7 million tests conducted with nearly 40,000 in the past 24 hours.