Eastern Cape Covid-19 coronavirus cases climb to 345 as SA reaches 3,465

There has been a jump of 165 Covid-19 cases in SA, health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize said on Tuesday.

There were 3,465 cases across the country - up from the 3,300 announced on Monday night. The death toll remains at 58.

The total number of tests conducted to date is 126,937, of which 5,427 were done in the last 24 hours.

The figures showed that the Western Cape has now joined Gauteng as the provinces to have more than 1,000 confirmed cases of the coronavirus pandemic.

The provincial breakdown was provided as:

• Gauteng - 1,199;
• Western Cape - 1,010;
• KwaZulu-Natal - 671;
• Eastern Cape - 345;
• Free State - 106;
• Limpopo - 27;
• North West and Mpumalanga - 24;
• Northern Cape - 16;
• Unallocated cases - 43.

Mkhize was speaking in the Eastern Cape after a visit to the province, where he said there had been a concerning "rapid rise in the number of confirmed cases".

Mass funerals were largely to blame, he said.