South Africa on Sunday recorded 5 486 new COVID-19, says the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD).

Representing a 25.3% positivity rate, the figure brought the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 3 841 388.

In the 24-hours, the National Department of Health confirmed seven COVID-19 related deaths.

“Of these, five occurred in the past 24 – 48 hours,” said the NICD.

The seven deaths brought the total fatalities to 100 523 to date.

As of Sunday, 24 675 963 tests had been conducted in both public and private sectors.

A provincial breakdown of the statistics reveals that the majority of new cases on Sunday were from Gauteng Province (40%) followed by KwaZulu-Natal (26%).

“Western Cape accounted for 17%; Free State accounted for 5%; Eastern Cape and North West each accounted for 3% respectively; Mpumalanga and Northern Cape each accounted for 2% respectively; and Limpopo accounted for <1% of today’s new cases,” the NICD said.

The 25.3% proportion of positive cases was lower than Saturday’s 31.1%.

“The 7-day average is (24.3%) today, and is higher than yesterday (23.8%). The 7-day moving average daily number of cases has increased,” reads the statement.

On hospital admissions, the Institute said these had increased by 43 in the reporting cycle.

Source: South African Government News Agency