One Hundred and Fifty Nine ( 159) more COVID-19 patients have succumbed to the virulent disease, increasing the death toll from 12 264 to 12 423.
Of the 159 fatalities, 37 were from the Eastern Cape, 43 from Gauteng, 45 from KwaZulu-Natal, 29 from Western Cape and five from the Free State.
This was announced by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Wednesday August 19.
Mkhize also said 3 9 16 people have tested positive for the disease in the last 24 hours, increasing the total national number of infections from 592 144 to 596 060.
The new infection number was recorded from 25 324 tests conducted in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of tests conducted so far from 3430 347 to 3455 671.
Of the 596 060 infections, 491 441 patients have recovered from the deadly disease, shooting the recovery rate to 82 percent.
