- The health department confirmed that 3 880 new Covid-19 cases were registered on Thursday.
- Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said 195 new deaths were attributed to Covid-19.
- The recovery rate, the percentage of people who tested positive and recovered from the coronavirus, remained above 80%.
Gauteng had registered 83 more Covid-19-related deaths on Thursday.
The province remained the provincial hotspot for the coronavirus, with 202 955 people having tested positive since March.
On Thursday night, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said a total of 195 Covid-19 deaths had been confirmed in the past 24-hour cycle.
"About 83 [deaths] were registered in Gauteng, 36 from KwaZulu-Natal, 26 from Eastern Cape, 25 from Free State, 12 from Limpopo and 13 from Western Cape. This brings the total Covid-19 related cumulative deaths to 12 618.
"We convey our condolences to the loved ones of the departed and thank the healthcare workers who treated the deceased. The recoveries now stand at 497 169 which translates to a recovery rate of 82%," Mkhize said.
The national number of confirmed new Covid-19 cases increased by 3 880 on Thursday, taking the cumulative total to 599 940.
The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases in Gauteng was almost double that of the province with the second most cases, KwaZulu-Natal, which had seen 108 080 people testing positive.
The Western Cape, which was for many weeks South Africa's provincial hotspot, had a total of 103 616 cases.
The Northern Cape remained the province with the least number of cases, with 8 575 positive cases confirmed.
While Gauteng saw the largest increase in deaths on Thursday, the Western Cape's cumulative total of 3 688 deaths remained the highest among the nine provinces.
#Covid_19 Statistics in SA as at 20 August. pic.twitter.com/VCqR5aSYCW
— Dr Zweli Mkhize (@DrZweliMkhize) August 20, 2020
A total of 12 618 people have died across the
country since South Africa's first Covid-19 case was confirmed in March.
The total number of tests conducted to date was 3 480 283, with 24 612 new tests conducted since the last report.
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