COVID-19 has claimed the lives of 132 more patients in the past 24 hours cycle, ballooning the death toll from 16 734 to 16 866.
Of the 132 deceased, 41 were from Mpumalanga, 49 from KwaZulu-Natal, eight from Gauteng, seven from North West, seven from the Northern Cape, six from the Western Cape, 14 from the Free State.
This was announced by Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize on Thursday, October 1.He also said 1 7 45 more people have been infected by the coronavirus-induced disease in the last 24 hour cycle, increasing the total infection figure from 674 339 to 676 084.
Mkhize said the 1 745 infections were recorded from 21 132 tests conducted in the past 24 hours, with 13 033 of those conducted in the private health facilities and 8099 in the public centres.
So far, a total of 4209049 have been conducted since the outbreak of the disease in March, with 2389 755 conducted in the private institutions and 1 819 294 in the public centres.
He also said of the 676 084, 609 1854 have recovered, keeping the recovery rate at 90 percent.
