• South Africa recorded 8 988 new confirmed Covid-19 infections on Tuesday.
• 555 new deaths have been recorded, bringing the official death toll to 72 992.
• Gauteng and the Western Cape each accounted for 25% of the new cases recorded on Tuesday.

South Africa recorded 8 988 new confirmed Covid-19 infections and 555 deaths on Tuesday, bringing the official death toll to 72 992.

According to a statement by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD), as of Tuesday, the country recorded 2 470 746 laboratory-confirmed cases.

"The National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD)... reports that 8 988 new Covid-19 cases have been identified in South Africa, representing a 19.8% positivity rate," the statement read.

As of Tuesday, Gauteng recorded 866 786 cases, the Western Cape 406 961 and KwaZulu-Natal 400 046.

"The majority of new cases today (Tuesday) are from the Western Cape and Gauteng, which accounted for 25% each, followed by KwaZulu-Natal (19%). Eastern Cape accounted for 9%; Mpumalanga accounted for 6%; North West accounted for 5%; Free State and Limpopo accounted for 4% each; and Northern Cape accounted for 2% of today's new cases," NICD spokesperson Sinenhlanhla Jimoh said.

Gauteng recorded 2 267 new cases on Tuesday, the Western Cape 2 233 and KwaZulu-Natal 1 697.

There was an increase of 636 hospital admissions in the last 24-hour reporting cycle. In total, 15 788 people are in both public and private hospitals for Covid-19.

South Africa has conducted 14 971 894 cumulative tests, of which 45 312 were carried out in the last 24-hour cycle.

The recovery rate is 91.1%, which translates to 2 250 708 recoveries.

According to the Department of Health, 7 981 822 vaccine doses have been administered. Of those, 191 721 were administered in the last 24-hour cycle.

To date, 1 578 862 people have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, while 1 634 960 have been vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Source: News24