The COVID-19 death toll has increased from 15 992 to 16 118 after 126 patients succumbed to the disease in the last 24 hours.
Of the new deaths, five were recorded in the Eastern Cape, 54 in KwaZulu-Natal, 45 from Gauteng, five from North West, and 17 from the Western Cape.
Mkhize further said the COVID-19 infections have spiked from 661 936 to 663 282 after 1 346 people contracted the disease. in the past 24 hours.
The 1346 were recorded from 16 393 tests conducted, with 11 979 of those conducted in the private health centres while 4 415 were done in public health facilities.
This has brought the total number of tests conducted so far to 4 064 117, with 2305 117 of those done in the private institutions and 1 759 000 in the public institutions.
Of the 663 282 infected, 592 904 have recovered, which translates the recovery rate from 89.3 to 89.4 percent.
