Covid-19: SA records 15 deaths ahead of increased travel for Easter weekend

• As of Sunday, the total number of Covid-19 cases was 1 545 431, with a total of 52 663 confirmed deaths.
• The latest update comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with the premiers to discuss additional lockdown restrictions over the Easter holidays.
• On the vaccine front, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize says Pfizer is expected to deliver up to seven million doses between April and June.

As the country heads into the Easter weekend, the focus has turned to how government will deal with increased travel and church gatherings expected over the next week.

Over the 24-hour period to Sunday evening, 965 new Covid-19 case were reported in the country.

In his daily Covid-19 statement released on Sunday evening, Health Minister Zweli Mkhize reported 15 confirmed new Covid-19 deaths. Six deaths were recorded in Gauteng, four in Mpumalanga, three in the Free State, one in KwaZulu-Natal and one in the Western Cape.

As of Sunday, the total number of Covid-19 cases is 1 545 431, the total number of confirmed deaths is 52 663 and the total number of recoveries is 1 471 899.

The total number of vaccine doses administered is 231 605.

The latest statistics comes as President Cyril Ramaphosa is expected to meet with the country's nine premiers to discuss additional lockdown restrictions moving into the Easter long weekend, the Sunday Times reported. The Ministerial Advisory Committee has recommended more restrictions to prevent super-spreader events.

Meanwhile, Mkhize has indicated that Pfizer is expected to deliver up to seven million vaccine doses between April and June.

Another three million Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses are also due to arrive around the same time. In a recent interview with the SABC, Mkhize said the delays were caused by a worldwide problem due to high demand.