Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said 119 COVID-19 patients have lost their lives to the virulent disease in the past 48 hours, pushing the death toll to 20 432.
Of the new deaths, 36 were recorded in the Eastern Cape, 22 in the Free State, 42 in Gauteng, seven in Mpumalanga, one in Mpumalanga and 11 in the Western Cape.
Mkhize also said as of Tuesday, November 17, the cumulative number of detected COVID-19 cases was 754 256 with 1 987 new cases identified since the last report.
The 1 987 new infections were detected from 17 930 tests conducted, with 11 420 of those conducted in the private health facilities and 6 510 in the public centres.
He added that South Africa’s recovery rate was at 92.4 percent after 696 820 of 754 256 the patients recovered from the deadly disease.
