Health Minister, Dr Zweli Mkhize says as the number of Covid-19 deaths nears 1 000, South Africa’s mortality rate remains at 2%, well below the global average of 6%.
44 more fatalities were reported the past 24 hours, bringing the nationwide total to 952.
25 more people died in the Western Cape, six each in the Easten Cape and Kwa-Zulu-Natal, and seven in Gauteng.
Mkhize said coronavirus infections had increased to 45 973, of which more than 24 200 people (52.8%) had recovered.
There are now 5 629 cases in the Eastern Cape, with 101 deaths.
As of Saturday, 54 African Union member states had reported 176,807 confirmed coronavirus cases, with 4 902 deaths, and 78,267 recoveries, the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (Africa CDC) said in a statement.
Confirmed COVID-19 cases worldwide topped 6.8 million on Saturday, reaching 6,800,604, according to data compiled by the Johns Hopkins University.
A total of 396,591 people worldwide have died of the disease, the data showed.
The United States suffered the most from the pandemic, with 1,908,235 cases and a death toll of 109,443.
(Additional reporting by African News Agency)
