Five deaths as SA Covid-19 cases rise to 1,353, with 39,500 tested

The number of Covid-19 cases in SA has risen to 1,353, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday afternoon.

Five people had died from the respiratory illness caused by the coronavirus, Mkhize said.

The number of confirmed cases was up from the 1,326 announced by President Cyril Ramaphosa on Monday night. Ramphosa announced that SA had three deaths.s

Of the confirmed cases, Mkhize said, 633 were in Gauteng.

In total, Mkhize said, about 39,500 people had been tested. He was speaking at press conference at the Durban port on Tuesday.

He said there had been an interesting trend regarding the new .

"The rate of increase of the numbers is not as much as we have initially anticipated. It's still too early to say. The figures that we thought might be possible by the 2nd of April could have been anywhere between 4000/5000, but we don't think we will get there."

This is a developing story.

In the public interest, none of our coronavirus news coverage will be behind our paywall. It is available free for all to read. If you would like to support our mission of delivering award-winning, independent local news, please consider taking out a subscription by clicking here.